


Keep Finding Something To Fight For

by Moonballz



Category: Jak and Daxter, The Last of Us, Uncharted
Genre: Adolescent Sexuality, Alternate Universe - High School, Coming of Age, Crossover, F/F, Father-Daughter Relationship, Gen, Parent Death, Sisters
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-03-19
Updated: 2015-09-16
Packaged: 2018-01-16 06:52:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 21,233
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1336117
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Moonballz/pseuds/Moonballz
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After her parents' death, Ellie Williams is placed under the care of her godfather, Joel Miller. She must now deal with a new home, family, and school, as well as the relationships that come with moving to a new town.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

She doesn’t know why, but sometimes she thinks she can hear it.

Tires screeching, car horns honking, drunk teenagers laughing, her parents screaming. And then the silence. She can hear that too. It’s the silence that blares in her ears before the police and ambulance sirens do. In her own reconstructive narrative, that is.

And from then on, there are rapid changes in the noises she hears. Doctors and nurses yelling. Heart rate monitors. IV machines. Her own sobbing. Comforting murmurs. Lawyers. Witnesses. Judges.

“Ellie. Are you listening?”

Ellie snapped up from the car seat, her daze broken She turned to face Marlene, whose eyes flicked to her before looking back at the road. “Yes! You were talking about...Joel. Or, erm. Mr. Miller?”

“Yes. I was just saying that he’s a good man and a great father. You have nothing to worry about.”

“I…I know. He and Sarah visited plenty of times.” She paused. “He and dad were really good buddies. Just like you and mom, huh?”

Marlene gave her a sad smile. “Yeah.” Her tone didn’t escape Ellie’s notice. She always knew her mother and Marlene had a sort of strained relationship, even though they were best friends. Neither of her parents had siblings, so the closest she had to an aunt was Marlene and Joel was practically her uncle.

“So…why can’t I just stay with you again?”

Marlene sighed. “We’ve been over this, Ellie. Your parents…they wanted you to stay under Joel’s guardianship if anything were to happen to them. I mean, they weren’t religious, by any definition of the word, but…they liked the idea of you having a godfather.”

Ellie crossed her arms and in her best Marlon Brando impression, said “I’m gonna make him an offer he can’t refuse!”

Marlene threw her head back and laughed. In between fits of laughter, she said, “Yes! That’s _exactly_ what your father was thinking when he made Joel your godfather.” When she was finally over it, her face grew a little more somber. “But seriously, you’re much better off with Joel. He knows how to take care of a daughter and you’ll get to have Sarah as a sister.”

“Mhmm…” Ellie mumbled. Sarah was a nice girl, really. The last time she and Joel visited, Ellie was busy playing video games with her friends. She remembered being unreasonably rude to her when she tried to join them while they were playing MotorStorm Apocalypse. Even her friends called her out on it. Sarah never showed that she was the least bit hurt by it, though. Either she was oblivious to the way Ellie treated her, or she just tried to be the bigger person. _Probably the latter,_ Ellie thought.

Marlene noticed Ellie’s downcast eyes. “Besides…well, I was going to tell you this later but I’m thinking I should tell you now. While you’re staying with Joel, you’re gonna be seeing me around plenty.” Ellie gave her a confused look. “I got a new job, Ellie. At your school.”

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Ellie’s face slowly light up. “Really?! You’re…you’ll be a teacher at my school?”

With a twinkle in her eye, Marlene said, “Try…principal.”

“No way! Oh, wow. Principal Dandridge, huh?”

“You got it. So I’ll be keeping an eye on you.” She paused. “Though you shouldn’t hope to see me often. That’s only for the bad kids.”

Ellie grinned and faked nervous laughter. “Oh yeah. I’m not one of those, heh! But ah, that’s great, Marlene.”

She felt better about her new home already.

 

* * *

 

The first thing Ellie noticed about her new guardian’s house was that it was pretty nice, considering it was owned by a single dad who, as far as she knew, was a carpenter or constructor of some sort. A girl sat on the steps of the porch, busily texting away. Ellie instantly recognized her as Sarah, who she just saw a week ago at the funeral for her parents. As soon as she heard the car approach, she looked up and beamed.

Marlene let the car stop and gave Ellie a reassuring look. Ellie nodded and hesitatingly opened the door. She was immediately ambushed by Sarah, pulled into a bone-crushing hug. _No wonder she plays soccer_ , Ellie couldn’t help but think.

“Oh my god, Ellie! It was getting late. We were worried.”

“Just bad traffic,” Marlene reassured her. “Where’s Joel?”

“Oh.” Sarah let go of Ellie to turn around and nod towards the open screen door. “He’s on the phone, I think.” Ellie could see Mr. Miller pacing back and forth with a scowl on his face.

“God dammit, Tommy!” He gestured angrily, barking into his cellphone. “He’s my contractor, I can’t just go in and—” He paused, immediately embarrassed by his display of aggression in front of his goddaughter. With the pointed look Marlene was giving him, Ellie didn’t blame him. “Uh—you know what? I’ll call you back later.” Beside Ellie, Sarah’s palms were getting acquainted with her face.

Joel shoved his phone into his back pocket and nodded to Marlene, greeting her. He turned to give Ellie a crooked smile, if you could call it that. “Hey, kiddo. How’re you holding up?”

She suddenly thought back to the funeral, when Joel gave a heartfelt eulogy about her father, wiping away tears from the corners of his eyes every few seconds. Ellie hardly listened to his words, paying more attention to how he held himself and how he spoke. He always seemed to be a hardened, stone-faced sort of man, and seeing him cry just reminded Ellie of how numb she was—how she was unable to shed a single tear since she first heard about her parents’ death. He had hugged her before leaving that day. She remembered feeling slightly awkward; knowing this man may become her legal guardian after the courts had reviewed her case.

She gave him a weak smile back. “Hi, Mr. Miller. I’m all right. How about you?”

“Please—just call me Joel. And—why don’t you come inside? Let me get your suitcases.” He went around to the trunk to pick up her belongings. Marlene took some of the load. “Lead the way,” she said.

Sarah gave Ellie a reassuring smile before pulling her along with the adults. Joel led them upstairs to a bedroom next to the bedroom that Ellie presumed belonged to Sarah.  “Now—” Joel grunted, “This used to be a guest bedroom, but it’s all yours now, Ellie. We uh—got a desk and drawers and such for you.” There was also a twin-sized bed in the corner, with just plain sheets. Ellie’s eyes wandered the room, already mentally claiming the walls for a multitude of her posters.  

“I picked them out!” Sarah said enthusiastically, referring to the desk and drawers. “I hope you like them.”

Marlene, Joel, and Sarah looked at Ellie expectantly before she nodded with approval. “Yeah. Thanks so much for this.”

After they set down Ellie’s belongings in her room for her to arrange later, Sarah continued babbling as they descended back downstairs to the living room, “Sorry we only have plain white sheets for you for now. I was thinking about what kind of sheets you might want, like what colors. Or did you want some kind of theme? Like maybe Triple Phoenix or something from The Turning or maybe—”

“Sarah.” Joel said, quieting his daughter, worried she would overwhelm his new ward. “We can go shopping later, maybe. Ellie can pick out her sheets then.”

“R-right.” Sarah mumbled.

Joel turned to Marlene. “Staying for dinner, Marlene?”

She looked at her watch and shook her head. “Sorry, Joel.  I actually gotta get going.” She turned to Ellie. “Is that all right?” Ellie nodded, that numb feeling returning again. Marlene moved in to hug her. “You be good, okay?” Ellie hummed in conformation. Before leaving out the screen door, she turned to say, “Call me if you need me!” to both Ellie and Joel. And then she was gone.

After a few moments of pure silence, Sarah finally broke the tension. “So…pizza tonight?” Ellie shrugged and Joel picked up the house phone. Something told Ellie this was a very normal routine for the father-daughter duo.

While Joel returned his call to his brother, as Ellie found out from Sarah, the two girls decided to sit and flip channels until the pizza arrived. Joel allowed them the option to continue watching while eating the pizza, or coming to the table. Ellie didn’t want to be rude, so she opted for the dinner table and Sarah agreed.

“Oh yeah,” Sarah mumbled in between bites of her pizza. “What was that call about, Dad?”

“Nothing much. The new contractor’s an ass—is being really disagreeable.” Joel said, being careful with his language. Ellie thought, _I guess he doesn’t know about my own sailor mouth. Yet._

“So…nothing new?” Sarah concluded.

“Nothing new.”

As Sarah began a barrage of questions about the details of the new job, Ellie couldn’t help but be impressed by their relationship. It was like they hid nothing from each other; put everything out on the table without worrying. Joel even slipped out some profanities, completely forgetting that he had been trying to censor himself. Ellie felt a tinge of jealousy along with the melancholy of missing her own father. She could never speak to him so openly. He also seldom talked to her as an adult the way Joel talked to Sarah, like they were equal partners in maintaining the household.

 He never shared details about work, though she knew he worked for an accounting firm. Her mother was much more open about that sort of thing, although she liked to avoid talking about the sadder aspects of working at a hospital. She worked the night shift, so Ellie would only see her in the evenings, even on weekdays. Her dad worked many long hours and when he was around, he was never really up for playing or talking. He tried, though. She remembered how he would take her to the carnival whenever it was in town, or the times at the beach, or that one far-away memory at Disneyland. As soon as she felt the first stings of tears in her eyes, Ellie felt herself shut down and become numb again. The last bits of her pizza fought hard to go down her throat.

She became aware of Joel’s voice. “Okay, but Tommy’s the kind of kid that _actually_ put a whoopee cushion on the teacher’s chair while she wasn’t looking, so I wouldn’t take his advice—”

“May I be excused?” She said, immediately feeling bad for interrupting his conversation with Sarah. When they eyed her curiously, she added, “I—um would like to set up the stuff in my room.”

“Sure thing, Ellie.” Joel said.

“I’ll take care of that,” Sarah said, pointing at her plate.

“Thanks,” Ellie murmured before scooting off the table and returning to her luggage-filled room. While unpacking her clothes, she wondered if Sarah and Joel had some sort of I-wash-you-dry routine for doing the dishes. She bet they did. And she felt more like a stranger.

 

* * *

 

 

“Yo Ell-ay! Yo yo yo!” Crash’s voice blared through her laptop speakers while she frantically lowered down the volume. The Skype screen lit up with Collin “Crash” Coons’ nose and devilish grin. 

“Jesus, Crash, I can hear you just fine. Was that really necessary?!”

“Sorry, Ellie.” Came the calmer voice of her other best friend, Jak Sandover. His hand stretched out to pull Crash back away from the screen and allow room for his own face. “I tried to stop him.”

“It’s the thought that counts,” sighed Ellie.

“So how’re you doin’ with the Millahs?!” Crash whinnied while Jak simultaneously asked, “How’s Sarah?”

“I feel like I’m intruding on a father-daughter sitcom,” Ellie said flatly. “Came upstairs to put my stuff away, but I also kinda wanted to get away from them. And—yeah. Sarah’s the same as always.”

“Whazzat mean, same as always?”

“Like, you know. A little obnoxious with a side of like, fluffiness and cuteness.”

“Ooh. So you think she’s cute, huh?” Crash smiled his Cheshire grin and wiggled his eyebrows.

“W-what the fuck!” Ellie sputtered face heating up, “Not like _that_.”

“Oh god. Crash, they’re basically sisters now, geez.” Jak said. “I always get secondhand embarrassment from you. I don’t even know how we’re still friends—”

“Okay, all right, guys. Chill, I was just asking, okay?”

“I’m beginning to regret telling you two that I might like girls…” It had only been a few months ago that she finally told her friends. She had hidden it for so long that it was nice to finally get it out. She was only joking with Crash, of course. Even if he _was_ being stupid about it.

Before Crash could protest, Ellie heard a loud thump outside her door. She jumped at the sound and opened the door to find Sarah sheepishly trying to slip away.

Ellie tried to bite back the anger. “Were you _spying_ on me?”

“N-no, Ellie. I was just passing by your door and I was gonna say good night but then I heard Jak mention my name and then—”

“...How much did you hear?”

“Um. I mean…all of it.” Ellie’s eyes widened and Sarah amended, “But it’s okay, Ellie, cause I—”

Ellie put up her hands, teeth gritting, trying not to yell in case Joel could hear. “I don’t _care_. Just stay out of my life. And stop spying on me.” She slammed her door shut.

Crash and Jak, still on the Skype screen, knew not to irritate Ellie any further, let alone tell her not to be so hard on the other girl.

“Killzone time?” Jak asked.

“Killzone time.” Ellie confirmed, before setting up her console.

 

* * *

 

Ellie woke up in almost panic state, rapidly looking around, trying to remember where she was. _Oh, right. The Millers’ house. I mean, my house. My room._ She looked down. _My bed._ She stretched and got out of bed, rubbing her eyes. She got her toothbrush out of her bag and began to leave her room when she noticed a piece of paper on the ground, probably slipped under her door. It was a note.

_Hey, Ellie._

_I know you’re probably still mad at me and I’m really, really sorry for being an annoying brat who sneaks around all the time. I just wanted to know more about you. If you ever want to talk, let me know._

_Love,_

_Sarah_

Beneath her name was a pretty good rendition of Shock Jockey from Triple Phoenix. _I wonder if he’s her favorite,_ Ellie thought. It didn’t occur to her that Sarah actually liked Triple Phoenix, and didn’t just talk about it in order to get Ellie to like her. And that note…Ellie was beginning to feel bad that Sarah was beating herself up about it. But then she thought about how Sarah must’ve heard all of that last night when her conversation with Jak and Crash should’ve been private. She was almost angry enough to crumple up the note, but the great drawing of Shock stopped her. _Just because it’s such a good picture._

Ellie arrived to the breakfast table while Sarah and Joel were just about finishing up. Sarah gave her that same sheepish smile and offered her chocolate chip pancakes. Joel left for work a few minutes after, leaving the two of them alone.

Before Sarah could open her mouth, Ellie cut her off. “It’s fine, Sarah. Just forget about it, okay? About what you heard, and what I said. I’m not really ready to talk about it, so…let’s just start over.”

Her eyes were somewhat downcast, but she gave a hopeful smile. “All right.”

“…Isn’t there a new episode of Triple Phoenix today? We should watch it later.”

Sarah’s face brightened up right away.

 


	2. Chapter 2

Ellie pretended that she wasn’t beginning high school in just three days. Unlike Sarah, she wasn’t frantically trying to finish up any summer work or anything. She had been let off the hook for all of that due to her recent tragedy. Marlene had made sure of that, apparently.  She spent those days playing video games and occasionally trying to read _To Kill a Mockingbird_ for her honors English class, which was her only honors class. She didn’t have to, but once she started reading the book, she felt the need to complete it.

Ellie felt her face crack into a grin at Scout’s demand of “pass the damn ham” when she heard a knock at the door.

“Come in,” she said, unable to keep the amusement out of her tone. Sarah came in, a hint of tiredness in her usually bright and cheery eyes. “Aren’t you supposed to be doing all 12 pages of that math packet?”

“Ugh, I’ve been doing it all day and it’s killing me.” Sarah groaned. “Wanna go for a walk? If you’re not busy, that is.”

Ellie arched an eyebrow. “A walk? Do people do that in suburb-y places?”

“Sometimes! Hartford’s no Boston but it’s fun to walk around and maybe visit some neighbors?” Ellie looked unconvinced, especially about the neighbors, so Sarah switched tactics and used her best puppy dog eyes. “Please? I’m so tired of school work.”

Ellie put down her book and huffed, “Fine. But only because I’ve hardly seen daylight in the past few days.”

“Yeah, you vampire,” Sarah teased, grabbing her by the arm and pulling her up. Ellie let herself be dragged down and out the door. It was a nice day, with no hint that summer vacation was ending and the school year was going to begin again. In the front yard of the house next to hers, Ellie noticed a man trimming some hedges. Sarah pulled her along towards him. When he saw the girls, he set down the hedge tears, wiped his forehead with his arm, and gave them a bright smile.

“Hi, Mr. Cooper!” She gestured towards her new sister. “You haven’t met Ellie, yet, have you?”

“I don’t believe I have! Nice to meet you, Ellie.” He stuck out a hand and Ellie shook it. She had the distant feeling that he knew why she was there. Either Joel told him, or information just spread fast across the neighborhood. After a bit of small talk, they continued walking.

“Oh, Mrs. Cooper’s not here right now but hopefully you can meet her later. She makes the best apple pies and ooh—is that Sam?” Sarah squinted in the distance before waving towards the boy, who was busy with a remote controlled car. It took a few moments for him to look up before waving back.

“Finally fixed that up, huh?” Sarah said, gesturing to the car when they caught up to him.

Sam eyed Ellie curiously before turning back to Sarah. “Yeah. Henry fixed it for me before he left.”

Sarah began to explain, “Henry’s his brother and he just left for graduate school and oh! Right.” She giggled at her own sporadic musings, “Sam, this is Ellie. Ellie, Sam.” They exchanged greetings and Ellie felt that he was just as uncomfortable as her in this situation with Sarah just blabbing between them. She liked him, though. He seemed like a down-to-Earth, quiet, kind of guy with a mild temper. Sarah rambled on, “And oh my god! You’re both beginning high school this year. That’s so great! I’ll join you guys in two years, don’t worry. Where’s the high school bus stop, Sam? Do you know?” While Sam pointed out a spot, Ellie felt relieved once again about school. At least she’d have a friend.

“Do you have your schedule, Ellie?” The boy asked.

“Huh? Oh, no…not yet. I was told it would come in today or tomorrow. It took a while for the information from my middle school to get here.”

“I see. Well, let me know when you get it to see if we have any classes together. I’m just down the street, so yeah.”

“Will do,” Ellie said, smiling. Suburban neighborhoods were pretty friendly, she decided.

“So, what are you guys doing, anyway? Just walking around?”

“Yeah! Thought I’d show Ellie around. Wanna join us?”

Sam looked  down at his toy car and hesitated before saying, “Yeah, sure. Let me just put this away.”

The girls waited for him to come back before heading down the road again. They talked for a while, though Ellie just mostly observed and learned about her new friend. Sam’s favorite subject was math and he occasionally helped Sarah with her homework. He played video games too and Ellie couldn’t help but scoff at his choice of handheld Nintendo games over “real” console games. They bickered about that for a little while before Sarah broke them up and chastised them for acting like they were younger than boys at her school.

After they reached the road that led to the city streets, they turned around to head back home. They said their goodbyes to Sam.

“He’s nice, huh?” Sarah said after he left.

“Yeah. Kinda quiet though.” She gave a small laugh, thinking of her old friends. “Which is nice, for a change.” She remembered that Jak was kind of like that when they were much younger, but Crash’s influence got him to be more talkative, as well as her own.

“I’ll bet.” Sarah said with a knowing smile. She seemed to suddenly remember something and clapped a hand to her face and begrudgingly. “Back to math, ugh. At least Dad will be back early today. I can use helping him with dinner as an excuse to avoid that stupid packet.”

“Or I can help him instead.” Ellie said with a grin.

Sarah gasped, “That’s a great idea! You and dad can bond.”

“Uh. On second thought…”

“No, no, no! You can’t back out now.” Seeing the uncomfortable expression on Ellie’s face, she amended, “How about the three of us make dinner together?”

“Okay…that’d be nice, I guess.” Ellie said, chewing her lip. _I mean, I am living under his roof. Might as well get to know the man._

It was 6pm when Joel finally came home. Sarah had told Ellie that his work hours depended on his contractor, and that sometimes he came home as late as midnight. Sarah gave a rueful smile about that, joking that at least she could order food on those days.

“So you’re helping today?” Joel asked after Sarah gave him the news, adding, “You know, you really don’t have to…”

“No, I’d like to.” Ellie said positively. “I should, you know, pull my own weight around here.”

Before Joel could protest, his daughter pulled him inside the kitchen and began to chatter away as she usually did. They were making chicken stew, apparently, and Ellie was put in charge of simply defrosting the chicken by popping it into the microwave.

Meanwhile, Joel was cutting carrots before he slammed the knife down hard on the cutting board and faked a distressed cry, “Oh no! I chopped off my thumb!”  Ellie wasn’t fooled by the obviously fake pain that Joel was currently expressing, but she looked down at his hand anyway. His thumb was very carefully hidden away from the rest of his hand.  Ellie quirked an eyebrow towards Sarah, who looked terribly unamused.

She picked up a particularly thumb-looking carrot piece and muttered, “Dad. That trick got really old, really fast. I’m not six anymore. It’s not scary anymore, let alone cool.”

Ellie stole a glance at Joel’s missing thumb. He had hidden it away real good, she had to admit. “I think it’s pretty neat,” she piped up.

Joel turned towards her and grinned, saying “Thank you!” He turned back to Sarah. “I’m glad someone around this family appreciates real talent.”

Sarah scoffed and rolled her eyes before going back to peeling potatoes. Ellie remembered some of the jokes Joel would tell when he and Sarah visited. She was younger then, and a few years back she had pretended that they were lame even though they were pretty hilarious in retrospect.

 

* * *

 

Ellie woke up to the sight of Sarah’s face invading her personal space. She reached out to gently push her face away and mumbled, “Sarah, please. It’s too early.”

“No, it’s not. It’s 6am and school begins at 7:20 for you and 7:40 for me, which means we need to get ready right now! Come on.” She grunted, pulling on Ellie’s arm. “Up and at ‘em.”

Ellie yawned and whined, “Okay…I’m up. You can take a shower first.”

“Hmm…nope. I think you should. So you can wake up, sleepyhead!”

Ellie gave in and sleepily jumped in the shower. It was only mid-way through it that it hit her; _I’m going to high school. Oh god. High school._ Would it really be all that different from middle school? She’d have to make new friends. Her stomach dropped at the thought of not having Crash and Jak with her. She had known them since elementary school. _How am I supposed to replace them?_ But they had reassured her countless times; it’d be an adventure to meet new people and make new friends. That made her feel better. And there was always Sam.

Sarah went in next, not before reminding Ellie, “Wear something nice for your first day!”

Ellie groaned. She never understood why people did that, but she complied anyway. Her sleeveless button-down shirt was kind of nice, and she wore a pair of her newer shorts. She got Sarah’s approval, anyway, and so she went downstairs for breakfast.

“Ready for high school?” Joel asked after loading Ellie’s plate with an omelet.

“As I’ll ever be.” She took a bite of it. “Is it all that it’s cracked up to be?”

“Well, it won’t be like High School Musical, if that’s what you’re thinking. But it’s all right. I mean—” Ellie interrupted him with a snort and a fit of giggles. “What’s so funny?”

“Nothing, I’m just…” She put her head down on the table, shoulders still shaking from laughter. “I’m imagining you watching High School Musical.”

Joel looked appalled. He began to explain, “Sarah forced me to!”

Ellie held up a hand. “I know, I know.” She wiped a tear from her eye. “Now that, Mr. Miller, is what I call having a beard.”

Joel scratched his beard with a confused expression on his face. Before he could ask, Sarah entered the kitchen. “What’s so funny?”

Ellie tried to make a straight face. “You making your dad watch High School Musical with you.”

Sarah’s face reddened a bit before she scoffed and crossed her arms. “Ugh. I buried those CD’s away somewhere.”

“It’s okay, Sarah. It was probably a long time ago.” Ellie said sympathetically.

“It was. I was like 6.” Sarah confirmed, finally sitting down at the table with her Coco Puffs.

A few peaceful moments of the family breakfast passed before Ellie leaned real close to Sarah and whispered, “ _We’re all in this together._ ”

Sarah nearly spat out her cereal. “Argh, Ellie!!”

“Ellie, don’t tease Sarah, please.” Joel said in a stern voice, though Ellie detected a hint of amusement in it.

“All right, all right.” Ellie resigned, pretending to play along. She smiled to herself. _Aww. My first scolding._

* * *

 

 

High school was huge. Ellie kicked herself for not visiting it a few days ago, just to know her way around it. Sam had been there before, though he was only a little less lost than her. They were relieved to find that they had a few classes together, including Spanish and Biology early in the day. They were, however, in different homerooms. Sam pointed in the general direction of her homeroom before they separated ways and wished each other luck.

Her homeroom teacher was some guy named Mr. Navarro. He took roll call, set some ground rules about high school, and passed out planners. Ellie couldn’t tell who was more bored, the teacher or the students. Before the period was over, he also began to call students up to get their ID cards.

Of course, Ellie didn’t get hers.

“Must’ve been a delay in getting your ID picture from your old middle school,” Mr. Navarro said, shrugging. “Try going to the main office later today to ask about it.”

“All right, thank you.” Ellie mumbled, heading off to her next class. She complained about it to Sam later.  They then spent both Biology and Spanish class drawing and exchanging doodles. They were called out in Spanish for it, and forced to speak what little they remembered from middle school. Mr. Guerro then proceeded to threaten to separate them. They behaved themselves after that, except for a few exchange of glances.

It wasn’t until she started wandering the halls that she realized she had no idea where her Honors English II classroom was. It was separate from the other classes because it wasn’t typically for freshmen. Her previous English teacher had insisted that she be put in an advanced course, and so her new school had complied. She read the classroom numbers in the Sophomore hall. _Let’s see, 212, 214, aaand 216._

A teacher was standing outside of classroom. She beamed when she saw Ellie. “Which room number are you looking for?”

“Um, 216.” Ellie said.

“Then you’ve come to the right place. I was told there would be a freshman in this class. Didn’t want you getting lost.” She said, gesturing inside. Ellie hurried in and took a seat. She didn’t even bother looking around too much. She wouldn’t have recognized anyone.

Her English teacher’s name was Ms. Wersching. She was relatively young—maybe 26 or so, if Ellie had to guess. She had dark brown hair, which was tied in a neat bun, and sharp hazel eyes. Although she looked friendly enough outside the classroom, she had a strict, no-nonsense way of addressing the class. Ellie would’ve been afraid of her if she wasn’t so pretty.

After the period was over, Ellie realized she wasn’t looking forward to lunch, especially because she really didn’t know anyone there. She recognized a few faces from some of her classes, and so she sat with them. They were pretty nice, but she didn’t feel like she clicked with them. At least they made lunch bearable. Some of them were also heading to geometry, and so she followed along with them. That class was relatively uneventful, and the teacher was some old guy named Mr. Schafer.

 _Why do I have so many old guy teachers, anyway?_ Ellie thought bitterly. _Well, there was Ms. Marlowe for Bio, but…_ She shuddered. That lady was kind of scary. She looked at the rest of her schedule. _Yep. All old guys._ There was Mr. Brown for P.E, and since it was a half day, they didn’t need to change. _Thank goodness_ , Ellie thought. They didn’t do much except run a few laps. She suspected that Mr. “Billy” Brown, as some of the other kids called him, could use some running.

She praised the Lord for study hall the next period, so that she wouldn’t have to feel sweaty in a real class. She continued her book, content with her 7th period.

Her last period starred an old guy too, but she had a really good feeling about him. He seemed upbeat and content with what he was teaching, which happened to be world history.

“Name’s Mr. Sullivan, hope you kids are liking ole Druckmann High School so far.” He gestured towards a boy sitting at the desk beside his own. “This guy right here is Nathan Drake. He’s here because he’s a teacher’s pet.”

“What!” The boy, Nathan, protested while the whole class laughed.

“Just kidding,” Mr. Sullivan said, “He’s a YPP—a part of the Youth Participation Program, which some kids do for a class they like. Wanna talk about it, Nate?”

“Yeah sure. So I’m a YPP, like Mr. Sullivan said. I just help him around the classroom. If you guys need help with research or writing an essay for this class, I’m always here.”

“He also makes copies of worksheets and brings me coffee—kinda like a secretary.” Mr. Sullivan joked.  The class burst into laughter again.

“Gimme a break! YPP’s don’t do that. The coffee thing, I mean.” Nate clarified.

Mr. Sullivan chuckled before moving on with some key points of the class. He had Nate pass out the syllabus. It wasn’t until the last couple of minutes of class that Ellie realized she still hadn’t gotten her school ID. She wished he knew where the main office was. She decided to ask her history teacher.

“Excuse me, Mr. Sullivan, but I still haven’t gotten my school ID yet. Can you point out the main office?”

“Sure, it’s uh…” He stopped. “Actually, it’s kind of far from here.” He turned to Nate, who was still packing up. “Nate, could you bring—Ellie, was it?” She nodded. “Bring Ellie to the main office. Stick around till she gets her ID, you hear?”

“Yessir.” Nate said. He nodded towards her. “Come on.”

Out the door, Nate began to ask, “So how do you like Druckmann—oh shit.” He stopped in his tracks. “Shit shit shit. Sorry Ellie, I’m supposed to be at a meeting—Elena’s gonna kill me. Shit.” Ellie watched him frantically take out his phone to call someone.

“Yo. Riley. Okay, I’m supposed to be taking this girl to the main office, but Elena will destroy me if I show up late to the first meeting of Key Club and can you please—yeah we’re downstairs, we’re like right below where you are—you’re at your locker, right? Yeah, just come down. Wait, what? Um, let me see…” The person on the other side must’ve said something weird because he turned towards Ellie, leaning in to study her face. He was a little too close for comfort. “Uh…yeah, I guess. I mean,” he turned back around dropping his voice a bit, “She’s got, like, freckles.”

Ellie felt the heat rising in her cheeks. _Wh-what. Is he giving me over to one of his dudebro friends named Riley? Who’s got some kind of freckle fetish? No fucking thank you._ She gritted her teeth and harshly sad, “I’m right here!”

Nate’s eyes widened. His ear was still pressed to the phone, but he quickly apologized to her. “Wait, no, sorry. I promise I’m not an asshole, it’s just—”

“Could’ve fooled me,” someone cackled. It was a girl, descending down the stairs, her hands in her pockets,  her lips  pulled into a smirk. Her hair, which was styled not unlike that of Janelle Monae’s, stuck out from under a beanie. She was wearing a tank top with a half-sleeve denim shirt over it, along with distressed shorts and combat boots. Ellie froze in place. _Wow._  

“Geez, finally. Ellie, I’m sorry, I just really gotta go. I’ll catch up with you later.” Nate said, before rushing off to his meeting.

The girl stuck her thumb in the direction that Nate ran off to. “ _That guy_ will do anything to impress a girl.”

Ellie solemnly nodded before asking, her voice just above a whisper, “ _You’re_ Riley?”

“Yep. And who’re you? Ellen Page?”

Just like that, Ellie snapped out of admiring this cool and pretty girl. She rolled her eyes and snapped, “Oh, har-har. I’ve _never_ heard that one before.”

“Yeesh,” Riley said, giving her a small apologetic smile. “Sorry.”

“Nah, it’s fine,” Ellie said, shrugging. “It probably doesn’t help that my name also happens to be Ellie.”

“Uh-oh,” Riley said, half-laughing. “That’s gotta suck. At least Ellen Page is a major hottie.”

Ellie blushed. _Does that mean she thinks…_

“Anyway, let’s go, kid.” Riley said, oblivious to Ellie’s thought process. “We haven’t got all day. The office is this way.”

“Sorry that you—were you planning to stay after school?”

“Nah, I wasn’t. But Nate’s my ride so it’s cool.”

For some reason, Ellie assumed everyone she met was also a freshmen, though she knew Nate had to be older if he was some kind of teacher’s assistant. “Oh! Does he drive? Is he a junior?”

“Nope. We’re both sophomores but Nate’s already 16. He was just put into school a little late, I guess.” She said with a small shrug. “Why was he takin’ you to the main office anyway?”

“He’s the YPP for world history. Mr. Sullivan asked him to.”

“Oh, yeah. Him and Sully are tight.” She looked back at Ellie. “And what d’you need from the office?”

Ellie was writing out a quick text to Sarah explaining that she’d be a little late. She looked up from her phone. “I uh…just transferred here. So it’s taking a while for them to get me my ID.”

“That’s annoying. And…we’re here.” She said, nodding towards the main office. “I’ll come with you. Not like there’s much to do ‘til Nate’s club meeting is done.” Riley splayed out on one of the chairs in the office while Ellie went up to ask for her ID. They had just received it about an hour ago, so Ellie was lucky to have picked it up right away.

After they left the office, Ellie tore open the envelope and groaned at the picture. “Ugh, I forgot how bad this picture was.”  That was the wrong thing to say, because Riley’s eyes glinted and she immediately snatched the ID from Ellie’s hands and began to study it.

Before Ellie could protest, Riley said, “Looks fine to me, I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Really?” Ellie said, lighting up a bit.

“No, you look like a dork.” Riley said sarcastically before sighing, “Yeah, really. Why would I say that if I didn’t mean it?”

“I don’t know…”

“Exactly. So where are you from, anyway?”

Ellie began to tell her a little about Boston, though she avoided talking about her parents. She wondered if Riley noticed. She seemed much more interested in the city life and culture than anything. _At least there’s something interesting about me_ , Ellie thought. She wondered if Riley liked comic books or video games at all, though she didn’t ask. She didn’t want to come off as too nerdy.

It was 12:45 when a bus pulled into the school driveway. Riley looked over at it. “Oh, that’s the after school bus. They’ll drop you off as close as they can to your house.” She looked back down the hallway. “But Nate’s gonna be here soon. He can drop you off too.”

Ellie thought about Riley finding out her home situation, and decided against. “Uh…I don’t wanna bother him. I can take the bus.”

Riley seemed to hide something—disappointment? But she played it off. “That’s cool. I’ll see you around?”

“Yeah.” Ellie said, nodding before heading towards the buses.

When she got home, she realized she did a bad job of hiding a stupid grin from Sarah, because her first words were, “You look like you had a good first day.”

Ellie shrugged, minimizing her smile. “It was all right.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A few things to note. In this story, Tess probably looks somewhat more like her concept art than how she looks in the game. Think of Nate as his younger appearance in U3. Most of the teachers are character from several Uncharted games. Lastly, Riley's hairstyle was influenced by one of my co-workers, but think of her appearance being closer to concept art also.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so so sorry for being late and I'm sorry to say that this is a shorter chapter than usual but writer's block is aggravating. Hopefully I'll have more for you guys next chapter :) 
> 
> Enjoy.

“Psst…” Ellie thought she heard a hiss but didn’t think much of it until it got louder and more persistent. Ellie wasn’t even curious about it, she was more impressed that this person could hiss so loudly among 20 babbling students before English class began. She humored the person, and turned around.

She felt her heart skip a beat at the sight of the girl she met yesterday, Riley. Nate was right next to her, giving her a grin and a wave. Riley motioned for her to come over. Ellie regained her composure, trying to look as casual as possible, and walked over to where they were sitting in the back of the classroom.

“What are you, a nerd?” Was the first thing to come out of Riley’s mouth.

“Kind of,” Ellie said coolly. “Should I be sitting in the back like ‘cool kids’ do?” She said, motioning quotation marks with her fingers.

“Naw, I was talking about being in this class even though you’re a freshie. Though you’ve got a point too, sitting up in the front like a nerd.”

“I like English.” Ellie responded simply.

Riley looked a little miffed over not being able to get Ellie’s goat.

 Nate shrugged. “Can’t argue with that.”

Riley blew out a puff of air. “So you gonna sit with us or what?” She said, nudging towards the seat on her other side.

Ellie looked back at her seat in the front. “Sure, why not?” She went up to her desk to bring her backpack to the seat beside Riley.

Riley opened her mouth to say something, but was interrupted by Ms. Wersching beginning the class. Ellie turned her attention to her new teacher instead. She wasn’t a teacher’s pet by any means, but she found that she really liked Ms. Wersching already—she and Mr. Sullivan were the only good teachers she had for the year, it seemed.

“I dunno, she’s kind of a tight ass.” Riley said after class, when the three of them were walking down the hallway.

“Only cause she caught you goofing off.” Ellie remarked. “You gotta be more subtle.”

“How’s _this_ —” Riley stuck up her middle finger in front of Ellie’s face, “for subtle?”

“Sick burn.” Ellie said monotonously, pushing her hand away.

Riley retracted her hand and cracked her knuckles. “What’s a freshie like you know, anyway?”

“Speaking of freshies,” Nate interrupted, “What do you have next anyway, Ellie?”

“Uh…lunch.”

“No way!” Nate grinned. “Me too.”

“Ugh.” Riley groaned, “Not fair…guess I’m gonna have to ask Marlowe for that permanent pass.”

“Now you’re listening to me?” Nate paused, as if something occurred to him. “Oh I know why,” he said slyly, nudging Riley in the ribs.

Riley grabbed him by the elbow and twisted his arm around until Nate began yelping for her to let go. Ellie watched in pure awe.

“Uncle! Uncle! Jesus, Riley, let go. Look, you’re scaring Ellie.” Riley finally let him go and Nate rubbed his arm.

“I don’t know if I’m scared or impressed, to be honest.” Ellie said. _That was really cool_ , she thought. Not that she wanted to let Riley know that. “Though it _is_ the middle of the hallway.”

Riley looked around at some of the passing spectators and grinned sheepishly. “Sorry.”

“Are you saying sorry to her or to me?” Riley shot him a glare, which caused him to produce a high-pitched scream. Ellie couldn’t help but smile at their play-fighting. They were just like Crash and Jak-always trying to kill each other while still managing to show how much they cared about each other.

“So you’re coming?” Nate said, snapping Ellie out of her thoughts.

 “Yeah. Fuck it, I’m skipping Marlowe’s study hall.” Riley glanced at Ellie. “You okay, kid?”

“Huh? Yeah, I’m fine. I was just thinking about my friends back home.” _Home? That’s not my home anymore._

“Oh, man. Sorry bout that.” Nate said, frowning a little. “Did your parents move here cause of work or something?”

“…Something like that.” Ellie murmured.

“Parents. They’re the worst. Am I right or am I right?” Riley realized it was the wrong thing to say as soon as the words left her mouth. Ellie visibly stiffened up. Before she could say anything else, a blonde girl waved them over to a table in the cafeteria.

“Over here!” She yelled. She was sitting next to a boy in a cap who was fiddling around with a camera.

“Let’s go sit down,” Nate said with a goofy grin, which was no doubt a result from seeing Elena. He went over and sat down next to Elena, giving her a side-hug in the process. Ellie and Riley sat across from her.

“You’re skipping.” Elena said matter-of-factly to Riley.

“Ehhh. Marlowe can suck it. And give me a permanent pass.”

“I don’t think she can do both.” She turned to Ellie. “Oh! I’m Elena, by the way.” She stuck out her hand and Ellie took it.

“Ellie. Nice to meet you.”

“This is Jeff.” She said, gesturing to the boy in the cap. “He loves his camera more than life itself so if you can excuse his rudeness…”

“And his fashion sense,” Riley smugly added, turning to Ellie, who grinned back.

 “Wait, wait. I got it.” Jeff mumbled, raising his camera to his eye and pointing it towards Ellie and Riley. Before they could even blink, the flash on the camera went off, blinding them both.”

“Yo, what the fuck, Jeff. Why do you gotta do that every couple of minutes?”

“Because I believe,” Jeff started while Nate copied his lip movements with his hand, “that every moment is precious and should be captured.”

“Capture this.” Riley said, sticking out her middle finger. Without missing a beat, Jeff snapped another photo.  

“Oh my fucking…that’s it. I’m gone.” She got up and walked towards the lunch line.

“That’s a good idea actually. I’m starving.” Nate said. The rest of them followed her along.

Ellie walked alongside Jeff.“Hey, Jeff? Can I see that picture?”

“Sure thing, Ellie!” He pressed a button and the photo of Riley angrily giving the finger appeared.

“No, not that one!” Ellie laughed.

“I know, I know.” He clicked another button and the picture of Ellie and Riley appeared. “This one, right?”

“Yeah…” She looked at it closely, which was hard to do because the camera hung around Jeff’s neck and they had to walk in tandem. It was such a candid photo. Now she knew what Jeff meant by ‘capturing the moment.’ She had only met Riley the day before, but in that photo, it looked like they were old friends sharing a joke. Riley did have that sort of effect on Ellie, but she liked seeing it on photo.

“You want me to send it to you?” Jeff asked.

“Yes!” Ellie blurted out and then added, “N-not because it’s anything special. It’s more like…well, it looks super professional. With the colors and stuff.”

“Thanks! I’ve been working on the perfect setting for indoor photos so I’m glad you like it. Gimme your email address later, I’ll send it to you.”

“Okay, thanks!”

After getting her food, Ellie sat back down next to Riley, who had already eaten a considerable amount on her plate and was rambling about some football player she got partnered up with in Chemistry class. She found herself glancing back at Riley. _I wonder if it’s creepy that I really want to keep that picture of us_ , she thought. _Jeff didn’t seem to think so, so maybe not._

“What is it, something on my face?” Riley said, mouth half-full. Ellie realized she’d been staring at her for a noticeable amount of time. _Quick! Think of a comeback!_

“Uh…yeah, there is. Your beauty.” _What the fuck, brain?! That’s not a comeback, that’s a pick-up line! Great job, Ellie._ Riley looked shocked, as if she were genuinely confused about the words that just came out of Ellie’s mouth.

Nate immediately burst into laughter. “Nice one, Ellie!” He managed to choke out before slamming his face down at the table and continue to laugh.

“Hey!” Elena said, bonking him on the head, “I happen to think, well,” She turned to Riley, “I think you _are_ beautiful!”

“Thanks, Fisher.” Riley said, rolling her eyes.

“Now, from a purely aesthetical point of view,” Jeff said, pointing his camera lens towards Riley, “I would have to agree.”

 She held up a hand towards his camera. “Jesus, Jeff. Get that thing away from me or else I will shove it up your—”

“I wasn’t trying to be sarcastic either!” Ellie interrupted. _I just really needed to throw that out there._ When Riley gave her a look, she quickly added, “I mean—I just said the first word that came to mind. I mean, not that it’s untrue or anything but—”

“Hey, hey, okay! I think I get what you’re trying to say,” Riley laughed. She gave Ellie a smile, “Thanks.”

“Wait, what! Why do I always end up being the douche of the group?” Nate whined.

“Maybe ‘cause you _are_ the douche of the group.” Riley said, crossing her arms.

“But we like you anyway.” Elena added.

“Not really,” Riley mumbled before going back to eating. While Elena and Nate had derailed to another conversation, she asked Ellie, “So what’s your schedule like?”

“Hang on,” Ellie said, pulling her schedule out of her backpack. “Here.”

Riley’s eyes seemed to snap attention to one item on her schedule. “Awww shit.” 

“What?”

“Sixth period PE? Samesies, yo.”

“What? Really?! I didn’t see you there yesterday?”

“Skipped it.”

“Riley!” Elena piped up.

“What! I only skip useless shit like Marlowe’s and fatass Billy’s half day jerkoff.” She ignored Nate as he snorted, nearly squirting chocolate milk out of his nose. “Anyway, at least we gotta face the big bad together, huh?”

“Yeah.” Ellie nodded, finding herself feeling better about gym class already.

 

* * *

 

Ellie spotted Riley nonchalantly talking to another girl in the locker room. She began to walk over until she saw Riley pull up her shirt over her head in one fell swoop. Ellie turned right back around, feeling her cheeks heat up. _Get it together, Ellie. We’re in a locker room._ By the time she turned back around, Riley was fully dressed in her gym clothes, waving goodbye to the girl she was just speaking to. She saw Ellie standing around and waved her over.

“There you are. Thought you might’ve gotten lost on the way—and you okay?” She stepped closer. “Your face looks all red.”

“Yeah I, uh, got a bit lost. And then ran over here. That’s probably why my face is red.” _Score! Nice save._

“Oh. Well, hurry up and change. Billy’s gonna throw a tantrum if we’re late.”

“Here?”

“Uh, yeah. Here. I mean—what?” Riley slyly grinned. “You embarrassed?”

“A little, yeah.”

Riley’s face dropped. “Oh. Wait, for real? Didn’t you have to change in middle school?”

“Yeah but there were like,” Ellie gestured with her hands, “stalls and stuff.”

“Well, shit. Let’s see.” She looked around and nodded towards the bathroom. “Just pop in one of them shower stalls for now. And maybe you’ll get used to it later.”

“O-okay.” Ellie said before walking over to the shower stalls, passing by some half-naked girls. _Uh, yeah. I don’t think I’ll ever get used to it._

As soon as she came out, she heard a booming voice come out of the doorway, “Come on, ladies! We ain’t got all day!” Mr. Brown stepped through, entering the room just a bit. He pointed a finger towards Riley, “And you, Abel. Don’t you think I didn’t notice you skippin’ yesterday. I’ll write you up next time it happens. The rest of you hurry it up!”

“Yeesh, who put a stick up _his_ ass?” Ellie grumbled.

“His boyfriend, probably.” Riley responded, shrugging.

“Ew. I did not need to hear that.”

“Well, at least him being gay as fuck means he ain’t gonna creep on the girls in the locker room.”

“Oh. You were serious?” Ellie’s voice dropped to a whisper while they walked out and headed towards the gym.

“What, about his boyfriend putting a stick—”

“No!” Ellie harshly whispered. “I meant generally about him having a boyfriend.”

“Yeah, Ellie. Billy’s gay. It’s a miracle he found a partner at all.” Riley turned away, casually not meeting Ellie’s eyes. “What, you got something against gay people?”

“N-not at all.” Ellie said, hesitatingly.

“Great! I can’t really tolerate homophobes, ya know?”

“Yeah, no. Me neither.” Ellie said, wincing after hearing Mr. Brown bark for them to start running laps. “But I’m not sure I can tolerate Billy either.”

“I hear you, sister. Gayness don’t excuse assholery.” When Ellie started to laugh, Riley realized what she said and joined in. “Not the best choice of words today, huh?”

 


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4 :

 

“Ellie! You ready yet?” Joel’s voice boomed up the steps.

“Almost! Just give me a few more minutes!” Ellie shouted back.

She bit her left thumbnail while continually staring at the picture Jeff had sent to her a few days ago. In a flash drive, she had been compiling several digital photos she had of her friends from her old school, many that were taken during middle school graduation. Most of them were silly pictures of her and Crash and Jak, usually making their faces as contorted as possible. She tried to pick out the nicer ones. She had only started this project due to Sarah’s request.

“You have to _decorate_ your room, Ellie! Come on, put some pictures together and get them printed tomorrow. We’re going to Costco anyway.” She had said and of course, Ellie had to oblige.

Ellie mindlessly zoomed in and out of the picture several times, still deciding whether it was a good idea to include a picture of her and a girl she had only known for, what, a week? _Would that be weird? Yeah that’d be weird. What if she comes over one day and sees it? Or, wait. Would she come over? Why would she come over? Well, we’re friends so she might…_

“Who’s that?”

Ellie nearly jumped. She quickly minimized the window and turned around. “Sarah, what the hell did I tell you about popping out of nowhere?”

Sarah’s smile turned sheepish. “Oops. Sorry! I didn’t mean to scare you.”

“You didn’t _scare_ me, just…you surprised me.” She quickly dragged the photo in the USB drive. “Did Joel send you? I told him I was coming.”

“Well, you were taking a while.” While they walked downstairs, Sarah added, “You still didn’t answer my question.”

“Huh? Oh…she’s just a friend I made. At high school.” _Please don’t ask any more questions, please don’t ask any more questions, please…_

“Oh, okay. She’s real pretty.” _Whew._

“She is…” Ellie agreed with a dreamy sigh. _Wait, no._ “I mean, she’s all right.” _That was a weak ass save. She’s definitely going to ask more questions…_

“Dad!” Sarah yelled instead. Joel, who was sprawled out on the couch with his eyes closed, woke up in a jolt.

“I’m awake, I’m awake.” He said calmly with a wave of the hand. Ellie could tell that this was probably a common occurrence in this household. “You girls were taking so long. Let’s get going now.”

After dropping off the flash drive at the photo center, Joel pulled out a small paper and rubbed his chin. It was a grocery list, Ellie supposed.

“Sarah, we ain’t getting those freeze pops again. We threw out the last ones ‘cause you didn’t eat ‘em all, remember?”

“Because those were gross!” Sarah protested. “Store brand freezer pops are always yucky.”

“Tough luck, kid.” He said, crossing his arms.

Ellie saw it happen _very_ subtly. Sarah’s entire demeanor changed, from whiny pre-teen to sweet, innocent child. Her eyes grew wide and almost teary. “Please, Dad? It’s really hot outside. I promise I’ll eat them all this time. Ellie can help me.”

Joel put down his arms and sighed. “All right, all right. Put those doe eyes away. We’ll get them from somewhere else, though. Don’t wanna get a bulk pack lasting till next summer.”

“Yay! Thanks, Dad!!”

“Yeah, yeah…” Joel muttered and Ellie almost felt sorry for him.

She and Sarah proceeded to help Joel with the grocery shopping, retrieving items whenever he asked.

“Why is everything here so huge?” Ellie finally had to ask. “This is a weird grocery store.”

“It’s not a grocery store, silly! It’s a warehouse. Everything’s sold in bulk.”

“I can see that.” Ellie said, looking up and down the shelves.

“Wait, you’ve never been to a Costco? Oh my God. You _have_ to try the free samples!”

“There’s free samples...?”

“Yes! Dad?”

“Go ahead,” Joel said, not looking up from the nutrition label he was inspecting on the pasta sauce. “Call me if you can’t find me.”

“Come on,” Sarah said, pulling Ellie along. “I can’t believe you haven’t been to Costco before.”

“There really wasn’t one in Boston, as far as I know. Maybe in the town over.”

They reached a table with a lady serving samples of cheesecake in a small plate and took one each.

“Wow. This is really good.” Ellie said after a taste.

“Mhmm. Come on! Let’s go check out some more.” Sarah said, even though she wasn’t even finished with her cheesecake yet. They retrieved small cups full of blueberry pudding from another table.

“This is pretty good too,” Ellie said.

“So do you like her?” Sarah blurted.

“Who? The serving lady?” She asked, gesturing towards the woman who laid out the cups of the pudding.

“No! The girl in the picture.”

 _What. Oh no. Why did I ever think you’d let this go, Sarah?_ “Yeah, I guess. I mean, we’re friends.”

Sarah gave her what Ellie would call a ‘done-with-your-shit’ expression. “But do you like, like her?”

“Who even says that anymore? Are you a fifth grader?”

“Seventh, actually. Remember? Though I know you’re just avoiding the question.”

 _She’s good._ “Oh my God, I’ve only known her for like, a week. I don’t know if I l-like—”

“Ah! You’re smiling. You _do_ like her!”

“No I’m not.” Ellie said, all the while the right corner of her mouth was betraying her by twitching upwards. “I don’t know that, I’ve barely known her for a week.”

“Then it’s love at first sight! That’s so sweet.”

Ellie finally got her fugitive smile in control. “You are blowing this out of proportion. I just happen to think she’s super cool and that’s all there is.”

“Okay. If you say so!” Sarah said in a singsong voice.

Ellie mocked her tone, “I do!” _Well, at least she’ll leave me alone about it. For now._ “Come on. Let’s find Joel.” She started walking back and Sarah moved in tandem with her.

“It’s so weird to hear his name like that. Why don’t you just call him dad?”

“What? No way.” Ellie said, scanning around the area.

“Why not?”

“Because. That would be weird.”

“Why would it be weird?”

Ellie swerved to meet Sarah’s eyes. “Because I already have a dad. And he’s _dead_. Okay?” She could feel her voice waver.

Sarah seemed shaken from the harshness of Ellie’s voice, and Ellie immediately felt bad. “Okay. Sorry,” she said quietly. After a moment of silent walking, she added, “I should just, uh, call Dad. It’ll be easier to find him that way.”

Joel confirmed that he was at the frozen section and the girls went to meet him there. Before leaving the store, Ellie also picked up her photos. The car ride back home was kind of quiet and somber. Ellie wondered if Joel noticed. _I really shouldn’t have yelled at her. But I didn’t say anything that wasn’t true. Joel isn’t my dad._ She looked over at Sarah, who had a sort of pensive, far-away look on her face. _I feel like I kicked a puppy though. Maybe I should apologize._

After putting away the groceries, she saw Sarah head up to her room She caught her before she could close her door. “Hey. Listen, Sarah…Can I come in?”

Sarah’s eyebrows furrowed in worry. “Um, sure.” She opened her door and let Ellie in. _Wow. I just realized I’ve never seen Sarah’s room_ , Ellie thought as she looked around at all of the posters and photos she had up. _Then again, when have I ever cared about what she’s into? She’s always been coming to me and I don’t even meet her halfway. Come on, ask her about herself sometime._

Ellie gestured to the photo of her in a soccer uniform cheerily holding up a trophy beside her dad. “Didn’t know you played soccer.” _Nailed it._

Sarah perked up. “Oh, yeah. But only in summer camp and only for the last two years. I’m gonna start playing again when I go to high school. I’m kinda worried I won’t make it on the team cause I’ve seen some of the games at our high school and those girls are _so_ good but Dad’s assured me that,” Sarah took a breath and in her best Southern drawl, said, “You can kick their asses no problem, baby girl.” She switched back to her normal voice, “But, I dunno. Sometimes I tend to get a little nervous and then…oh boy. I’m talking an awful lot again, aren’t I?”

“What? No way, I was enjoying myself, actually.” Ellie grinned. “Your Southern accent is really on point.”

“Thanks! Dad used to live in Texas but moved over here after I was born and so I didn’t grow up with the accent like he did but I did grow up hearing it and so I picked it up from him. But then when I started going to school, everyone thought it was kind of funny so I tried to get rid of it but I can actually switch it back on whenever I want! I think I use it when I’m kind of mad at Dad. In a way, it’s to make fun of him but sometimes it just slips out and—oh boy. I’ll shut up now.”

Ellie put up her hands. “I wasn’t gonna say anything!” She bit her lip. “Listen. Actually, I came here to apologize. For before.”

Sarah looked perplexed. “ _You_ wanna apologize to _me_?”

“…Yes?”

“No. No, Ellie. I have to apologize to _you!_ ” Sarah said, gesturing towards herself and then to Ellie.

“What? No, it’s fine. I know you’re just trying to make me feel at home. It’s a nice gesture and all, even if I’m not comfortable with…you know, calling Joel my dad.”

Sarah looked at her like she couldn’t believe her ears. “Not _comfortable_? Ellie. You’re in _pain_. You’re—you’re traumatized by everything that just happened and you’ve hardly had time to like, grieve. And I’m over here like, trying to force you to move on. And I just—I can’t even _begin_ to imagine what you’ve been going through but all I’ve been thinking of is myself.” When Ellie raised an eyebrow in confusion, Sarah went on, “Dad isn’t always around. So I’m kind of used to being by myself a lot and…well. I guess, I’ve been really happy that you’re here with me. And that makes me such a horrible person. Your mom and dad were like my aunt and uncle. And me and Dad really miss them and you…I can’t even imagine how you must feel. But I still can’t help it. I’m also happy that you’re here now. Oh god, I am a horrible person.”

_Wow._

A moment of silence passed before Ellie finally spoke. “I don’t think that makes you a horrible person at all. And frankly, I’m even a little flattered.”

“You—you _are_? I thought you just thought I was annoying.”

“Well, that too. Little sisters are _supposed_ to be annoying.” A small smile formed on Sarah’s lips. “And about my parents…I’m trying to move on. And you and Joel have been nothing but a big help to me. I’m really thankful to you both. You guys can’t replace them. No one can. But…I couldn’t have asked for a better new family.”   

“Ellie…” Sarah murmured before bursting into tears and burying herself on Ellie’s shoulder. _And you still made her cry. Good going, Ellie._

“Okay. Come here.” Ellie said, before wrapping her arms around Sarah. She held her for a while until Sarah pulled back and wiped her eyes. “So. We’re all good, then?” Ellie asked.

“Yeah!” Sarah nodded, giggling.

Ellie grinned. “You’re such a sap.”

Sarah playfully whacked her shoulder. “Stop it! You’re ruining the moment.”

Ellie shrugged. “It’s what sisters do.”

Sarah’s lips formed a sly smile. “Speaking of annoying sisters…I’ve been seeing you stare at a blank text on your phone all day. Are you gonna text her or what?”

Ellie held up her hands. “Aaand that’s my cue. That’s it. I’m outta here.”

“You should do it!” Sarah said before Ellie slammed the door.

 

* * *

 

 

“What?! Why do you have _his_ number and not mine?” Riley had said during lunch time last Friday, sticking her thumb in Nate’s direction.

”’Cause no one can resist the Nate-man.” Nate said with a smug smile and his hands interlocking behind his head.

“As if.” Ellie scoffed. “Mr. Sullivan wanted us to have his number so we could ask him for help when we needed it.”

“Right. Well,” Riley swiped away Ellie’s phone and started typing something on it despite Ellie’s small protests. “Now you got mine too. So you can like, text me whenevs.”

“Oh. All right, yeah.” Ellie had said.

And then continued to stare at the blank text outgoing to Riley until Sunday.

_Okay, okay. It’s just a text. You text people all the time. Like…Jak. And Crash. And that other day you lost your syllabus and needed Nate to text you a shitty picture of it on his 3.2 megapixel phone. Yeah. You can do this._

Ellie took a deep breath and typed up a single word.

**_E: Hey._ **

_Yep. Perfect. I mean, what else are you gonna say? Hi? Hey there? Hey…you? Hey cutie? Wink face? Wow that’s not my style. I am going to un-think that thought._

She closed her eyes and hit ‘send _’_ before she could even think to regret it. _Whew. That wasn’t so hard._ She threw her phone on her bed but went to retrieve it a minute later after it buzzed three times in succession. Riley’s response was immediate, though a little excessive and definitely unexpected.

**_R: Yo Tino I told you to stop using google voice and pinger and viber and shit. at least stick to one of them or something cuz I can’t handle texts from 20 different numbers. Jesus fuck better yet just get a text plan like you’re supposed to instead of tryna use your shitty ass data plan like a fuckin’ cheapskate_ **

_…how do I even begin to address this?_

**_E: Uh…actually, it’s Ellie._ **

**_R: Well, shit. that’s embarrassing. Just uhh forget what i wrote before. tino’s always using texting apps and i forgot I gave you my number_ **

**_E: It’s okay, I probably should’ve said it was me in the first place haha_ **

**_R: It’s all good. SO what’s up?_ **

**_E: Nothing much, I’m just pretty bored rn, just wanted to know what you were up to_ **

**_R: I’m up to doing the english response thingy_ **

**_E: Ha ha! i already did it_ **

**_R: Ofc you did u fuckin nerd ain’t got nothing better to do_ **

**_E: Sounds like somebody’s jelly._ **

**_R: Damn son you got me i’m totes jelly of some nerdy white girl with dumb freckles. wish I could do my homework 2.5 seconds after school’s out_ **

**_E: Wait. You think my freckles are dumb? :(_ **

**_R: Ahh no way i was just kidding with you, girl!! I like your freckles_ **

**_E: Gotchaa, I was just messing with YOU. I don’t actually give a fuck what anyone thinks of my freckles, haha_ **

**_R: pfffffft sure. At least now you know my secret ;)_ **

_Oh god. Is that flirting? That’s flirting. Say something back!_

**_E: Oh, no. Your thing for freckles was no secret ;]_ **

_Oh boy. I hope that wasn’t out of line._ Riley took a while longer than usual to respond. Ellie was close to biting her nails out of impatience before her phone buzzed.

**_R: shit shit shit, i still have to do that response on top of all the other hw I didn’t do yet_ **

**_E: Riley!! What have you been doing all this time?_ **

**_R: …Talking to you, loser_ **

**_E: I meant before that...?_ **

**_R: Being a lazy ass mofo, I’m doing them starting like RIGHT NOW_ **

**_R: Anyway, i’ll see you tomorrow??_ **

**_E: Ok fine bye!_ **

Ellie sighed and shook her head, still feeling giddy over her conversation with Riley. She could feel her cheeks hurt a little. _Have I seriously been smiling too much?_ She tried to force her lips back to a neutral state but found she just couldn’t. _Oh my god, Sarah was right. Speaking of which…_ She looked at the envelope with her recently developed pictures. She took out some two-sided tape and began to map out where to place most of the photos. Somewhere in the middle, she put a picture of her and her parents last Christmas. She hated to admit it to them at the time, but she actually liked that photo a lot.

She ignored the sudden sadness that washed over her and picked up the picture with her and Riley. _Uh…yeah. Maybe not yet._ She shoved it in one of her drawers and continued to map out the rest of the photos. She only got through three more before she opened the drawer and took out the photo of her and Riley again. She begrudgingly put two pieces of tape behind the photo before slamming it onto her wall.

Sarah must’ve heard the noise because she called out, “Everything okay?!”

“Yeah, I’m fine! Sorry!” Ellie responded. _God dammit, Riley._

 

* * *

“So you’re telling me…you saw _a hot chick_ _on a motorcycle_. In the parking lot.” Ellie asked skeptically while holding down Riley’s feet during a sit-up exercise.

“Yeah! Nate wouldn’t—urgh—believe me either. But I saw her, okay? She was real far away and went inside the school with her helmet on before I could see—urgh—her face.” Riley said in between a consistent pattern of sit-ups.

“Then how do you know she was hot?”

“Ellie. She rides a _motorcycle_. That’s hot. End of story.” Riley said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. _Ugh_ , Ellie thought, _I could ride a motorcycle. If I wanted to. Probably._

“Not…necessarily…?” Ellie offered instead.

“Okay, you know what. Let’s go to the—urgh—parking lot at the end of school today and see if we can find her.”

“I’ll miss my bus.”

“Nate can take you home! Come on.” Riley said, sitting up from her position and leaning closer to Ellie. “Please?”

 _Good luck saying no to that. And a car ride with Riley to boot. Ugh. What’s the harm?_ “Okay, okay. Let’s do it.”

“Switch!” Mr. Brown bellowed.

Riley tackled Ellie into what could have been interpreted as a hug, though the younger girl ended up being splayed on the floor with Riley hovering right above her. “Whoops sorry,” she said with a grin, “Oh well. It’s your turn anyway.” She moved away and pulled up Ellie’s legs, resting her hands on her feet. “Show ‘em what you got.”

 _What I got? What I got is a mercilessly pounding heart that may or may not become a full on heart attack_ , Ellie thought while she weakly pulled herself up.

 

* * *

 

 

“Holy fuck, what did I tell you losers? There it is.” Riley said, pointing towards the motorcycle. “Let’s go check it out.”

“What? Okay, wait Riley. We gotta be discreet.” Nate said, following her along.

“I’m bein’ discreet! Check it.” She started walking more casually, looking around occasionally.

“No. Now you look like you’re selling drugs.” Nate deadpanned.

“Bitch, I might be.”

Ellie sputtered a little before bursting into laughter. Nate tried to pretend it wasn’t funny, though his face was giving him away. “Do you see this? Do you see what I have to deal with?”

Ahead of them, Riley raised up both of her hands. “Shhhh, shhh, you guys. I think that’s her.”

About 30 feet away, a woman came out of the school’s back entrance and immediately put on the helmet she was carrying in her hands. Ellie noticed that she was dressed very nicely in a business suit, which was strange for a typical biker chick. She was about to get on her motorcycle before she did a double take in Ellie’s direction.

“Shit,” Riley cursed, turning around. “She spotted us. Act natural.”

“So, Ellie, what about them sports?” Nate said, a little too loudly.

“Oh. The sports. Yeah. I like it when they throw the ball. It’s a classic.”

“You two suck at this,” Riley harshly whispered.

“This was your idea in the first place.” Nate retorted in the same tone.

“Ellie?” The woman called out from a good distance away. “Is that you?”

Ellie froze in silence while the woman walked towards her. She lifted the helmet off and smoothed out her hair. Ellie’s eyes widened with shock and recognition. She turned to her friends.

“That’s no ‘hot chick,’ Riley,” Ellie said in a hushed tone. “That’s—”

“Principal Dandridge!” Nate said.

Marlene chuckled and turned to him instead. “Yes, I am Principal Dandridge. And you are…?”

“This is Nate!” Ellie interrupted. She cleared her throat. “Nathan Drake.” Marlene nodded and shook his hand. “And this is Riley Abel.”

Marlene gave her a kind of peculiar but amused expression. “Nice to meet you.” She said, shaking her hand as well. She turned back to Ellie. “Seems like you’re doing real well. It’s nice to see you smiling again.”

“I am!” Ellie said, grinning. “Can I ask what _that’s_ all about?” She asked, gesturing towards the motorcycle.

“Oh,” Marlene let out a small laugh. “My car needs some fixing so I had to drive my bike.” She leaned in towards the kids. “I didn’t even park in the space reserved for the principal. I was trying to be discreet.”

“We know all about discreet! Don’t we, Riley?” Nate said, nudging his best friend. 

Riley gave him a look, but ignored him otherwise. “You don’t have to be discreet, Principal Dandridge. We all think it’s super cool our principal rides a motorcycle.”

Marlene smiled at the compliment. “Wouldn’t want the other kids thinking I’m _too_ cool though. You know what I mean?”

Ellie laughed, “Some of us already do.”

“I know _you_ do, kiddo.” She put her helmet back on. “You don’t need a ride, do you?” 

_Motorcycles are cool but…Riley. Ugh. I am so weak._

“That’s okay. Nate’s dropping me off.”

“All right. Drive safe, kids!” She said, waving before walking towards her motorcycle. The three of them watched while she got on and drove off. They walked back to Nate’s car while Riley rambled on and on.

“Oh. And why did _no one_ tell me that we were having a beautiful mocha goddess sent from the heavens as a principal rather than the typical crustaceous old white dudes we usually get?” Riley blabbed as she climbed in the passenger’s seat behind Nate. Ellie thought about riding shotgun, but got in the back with Riley instead.

Nate started backing up the car. “Uh, well maybe you would’ve known if you hadn’t fucking _slept_ through the entire assembly Principal Dandridge set up to introduce herself.”

“What! Why didn’t you wake me up?”

“We tried. Riley, I plucked a goddamn feather out of my broken seat and _tickled_ your nose with it. Guess what? Nada.”

“Ellie?” Riley said, turning to her.

Ellie shrugged. “Nate’s right. He really did use a feather. I don’t know how you didn’t wake up. We gave up kind of quickly, though. Nate said you’d give me a bloody nose if I touched you or anything.”

Riley scoffed. “Oh well. Whatevs. And Ellie, I wouldn’t give _you_ a bloody nose if you tried that.”

Ellie smiled. “That’s sweet.” She caught herself and tried to pass it off as sarcasm, rolling her eyes. “My hero.”

“I’m interrupting this program for a special broadcast on how the fuck do I get to your house, Ellie.” Nate said.

“Oh. Sorry!” She leaned over towards Nate to give him directions back to her house. When they reached it, Nate looked around curiously.

“This is it? 28 Bretton?”

“Yeah, why?” Ellie said, climbing out. Riley jumped over to ride shotgun.

“Nothing.” Nate said, shrugging. “Just making sure.”

It wasn’t until after Ellie was settled back at home, working on her school work when Nate called her.

“Hey Nate, what’s up?”

“Hey, Ellie. I know it’s probably none of my business, and you could say so if you want, but I’m just really curious. Why are you living with the Millers? 

 


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whoops, sorry for the lateness as well as sparseness. Enjoy!

Ellie let out a small laugh. Before she knew it, she was playing it off as a joke. “Millers? What Millers? They haven’t been grinding down any wheat into flour lately.”

“Oh, yeah,” Nate said without skipping a beat, “Ever since they got rid of the ol’ windmill.”

“I sure do miss Old Betsy,” Ellie added.

“Me too. I’m guessing they replaced Old Betsy with you.” He paused. “You’re avoiding the question, Ellie.”

“What if I am? How bout _you_ tell me how _you_ know the Millers?”

“My mom knows Mr. Miller from work. Actually,” he laughed, “Mr. Miller needed a babysitter a few years back and my mom told him I could do it. I was definitely the cheaper option.”

“Wait, wait, wait. _You_ babysat _Sarah?”_

“Yeah. Why?”

“Dunno. Seems like it should be the other way around.”

“Hey!”

“Just kidding,” Ellie teased, “It’s just funny to picture it.”

“Yeah, well…all we did was watch movies and eat candy. She was really well-behaved though. I don’t think she even needed me. She wasn’t the type of kid to burn down the house or anything. I guess Mr. Miller just needed the extra security.” He let out a sigh. “I sure do miss the little booger.”

“She’s not really a _little_ booger anymore.”

“Yeah, I figured. It was just around a year ago that I stopped babysitting her. Anyway, your turn.”

Ellie took a deep breath. “I’ve known the Millers since I was a kid. They were just always a part of my life. Joel was a friend of my Dad’s. And also my Godfather, I guess.”

“…You guess?”

“Yeah, like my parents didn’t _believe_ in that stuff. They just thought it’d be cool if Joel was my Godfather, in case anything happened to them.”

“So…wait. You’re living with him now because…?” He trailed off.

Ellie clapped a hand to her forehead. “Please don’t tell me I have to spell this out for you,” she said calmly.

“Spell wha—oh.” Nate paused for a second. Ellie couldn’t help but imagine tiny gears inside his head turning, despite the somber moment. “Oh! I—I’m so sorry. Wow. I…I don’t even know what to say. About something like that.”

Ellie sighed, “You don’t have to say anything, really. I’m okay now. Mostly.” _If I don’t think about it._

“Yeah, well. It’s rough stuff. I’m sorry I brought it up.”

“Nah. You told me I could tell you to mind your own business. I was going to, until you said you were my little sister’s old babysitter.”

“Cute,” Nate chuckled. “Little sister, huh?”

“Jealous?”

“Kinda.”

 

* * *

 

“Ellie. I’m gonna have to perform an intervention,” Sarah said shortly after wandering into Ellie’s room. She stood with her arms crossed and her foot tapping.

“For what?” Ellie said lazily, stuffing her books into her backpack.

“For your dressing problem.”

“What?”

“Ellie, this is the _third_ day in a row that you’re wearing plaid.” Her voice legitimately sounded concerned.

Ellie looked down at her red plaid shirt, and then back at Sarah. “But this is my favorite shirt. And what’s wrong with plaid?”

“Nothing’s _wrong_ with plaid, it’s just that you wear it too often, just like my Dad—oh! Let me show you something,” She said, before scurrying back to her room.

Ellie scoffed and went to work on her hair instead. She usually took showers at night, but had forgotten to the night before, and so she had taken it in the morning instead. She thought about blow-drying her hair, but the weather channel had predicted that it would be a warm day and so she decided to let it loose so that it could dry. She kept her hairband around her wrist in case she wanted to use it later in the day.

“Found it!” Sarah yelled, clutching an old photo book while scrambling into Ellie’s room. She flipped it open to a page. “Here. Look at this.” She pointed to a photo of a much young, maybe teenaged Joel holding a baby. There were also several other photos of the baby.

“Aww! Are these your baby pictures? Look at Joel, he looks so young, too…”

“No! I mean, yes, but that’s not the point! Look at these,” she said, flipping through the pages, “Did you notice anything weird?”

“Yeah. You used to be so cute. What happened?”

“Oh my God. That’s not funny, Ellie.” She sighed, “Look. Look at what I’m _wearing_ in each picture.”

“Oh. Whoa! I didn’t know they _made_ baby clothes in plaid, that’s so fucking cool!”

Ellie had never seen Sarah look so horrified. She gasped, “No! No, Ellie, it’s not _cool._ He’s been dressing me up in flannel or plaid or whatever _since the day I was born._ And—and _he_ wears it all the time too, and now you! I can’t stand that pattern anymore. I really can’t.”

Ellie’s mouth opened and then closed. She shook her head a little. “Sarah, don’t you think you’re being a little overdramatic?”

“O-overdramatic? Did you not hear a _single_ thing I said?”

“Yeah, yeah, you’ve been wearing plaid since you were born.” When Sarah gaped at her, she continued, “But how about you let me wear my favorite shirt today, and I’ll _try_ not to wear too much plaid in the future.”

Sarah huffed, “Okay, fine.”

“Shouldn’t you be changing for school too? It’s almost seven.”

“Oh shoot! I didn’t even notice!” She said, hurrying back to her room.

Ellie smiled and shook her head. She took one last look in the mirror and flipped her hair. She hadn’t paid too much attention to how she looked, but lately…

She took her backpack downstairs and set it down. Joel was already sitting on the table and reading a newspaper, as all Dads do. At least, that’s what Ellie assumed. “Morning,” he grunted.

“Good morning,” Ellie responded. She fixed a bowl of cereal for herself and sat down across from Joel. After a few bites of her crunchy breakfast, she gestured towards the newspaper and asked, “Anything interesting in there?”

Joel sighed and started to fold the newspaper. “Not really. Just more tragedies that I don’t wanna hear…about…”

Ellie looked up from her cereal to see why Joel stopped talking. Her eyes fell onto his shirt, which was red and plaid and almost perfectly identical to her own.  They stared at each other for a long moment.

“Well,” Ellie finally said, “ _One of us_ has to change.”

Joel picked up his coffee mug and took a long sip. “It ain’t gonna be me, kid.”

“…Eh.” Ellie said, shrugging. She continued to eat her cereal. In the corner of her eye, she could see Sarah coming down the stairs. The girl stopped, mid-step, and rubbed her eyes before they widened at the scene laying before her. Ellie and Joel turned to her at the same time, deadpanned. Her eyes flitted between the two of them. She sighed, hopeless and defeated, and took her seat on the table. 

 

* * *

 

When Nate and Riley came into the classroom, they both seemed to look at Ellie questioningly while walking to the back.

“Whoa!” Nate said, settling down next to Ellie. “For a second I didn’t recognize you. I always thought your hair was like, constantly in a hair tie thing. I mean it didn’t even occur to me that it could _be_ let loose. I thought you showered with that ponytail and everything—” He stopped talking after Riley gave him a look and sat on Ellie’s other side.

“See I wouldn’t run my mouth like this chump right here but I was thinkin’ the same thing, like ‘Is that my girl Ellie or what.’ Never seen you let your hair down before.” She paused before adding, “It looks nice.”

“Thanks,” Ellie said. She hadn’t really thought of it, tying her hair up just kept it out of the way. But if Riley liked it down…

“ _I_ was _trying_ to reach that conclusion until I was rudely interrupted by _someone_.”

Riley held up both fists towards Nate. “You lookin’ to duke it out, son?”

Nate imitated the gesture, “Bring it.” Ellie backed up in her seat to let the two play-fight. She shook her head at the ridiculousness of it. They were just like Crash and Jak, though those two used to fight for real sometimes.

 “Hey!” shouted Ms. Wersching, who was passing by their desks. “No fisticuffs allowed in the classroom. You can duke it out all you want after class. Or better yet, after school.”

“Will do, Ms. Wersching,” Nate said, giving her double pistols and a wink.

She rolled her eyes at him and turned to Ellie. “Let me know if it happens.” She gave a sly smile. “Personally, my money’s on Riley.”

Ellie looked to Nate on her right and then Riley on her left. She turned back to her English teacher. She nodded and agreed, “Riley.”

“What! Does no one here have confidence in _me_?”

“Only if it’ll help you do better in this class,” Ms. Wersching answered. She ignored the whooping from Ellie and Riley at the ‘sick burn’ and went to the front of the class. “All right, everyone. Settle down.”

 

* * *

 

“Why would you not use a straw for your chocolate milk, Ellie. That’s fuckin’ weird.”

“No, look. Okay. You may not believe me, but it tastes _way_ better straight from the carton.”

“You sure you from Boston? Sounds like you were raised in a goddamn barn.”

“Me? You’re the only one around here who eats pizza crust,” Ellie sputtered back. “Like a _goat_.”  

“Then I’m the only one around here who refuses to contribute to food waste and shit.” Riley said, smugly crossing her arms and closing her eyes.

“I hate to break it to you,” Jeff said, holding up his own pizza crust, “But I’m pretty sure eating your pizza crust has very little consequences in the grand scheme of things. Schools sure do contribute to food waste, but it has less to do with kids throwing food away and more to do with the companies that supply the kitchen staff with nearly-expired foodstuffs. And even then, that’s just a small drop in the hundreds of billions of pounds of food waste the country produces per year.”

“Jeff…” Riley murmured, putting her face in her hands. “How many times do I gotta tell you not to bring up how shitty the world is?”

“You’re just mad ‘cause Jeff’s right,” Ellie said. “And even if he wasn’t, it wouldn’t change the fact that pizza crust tastes like ass.”   

“Oh yeah. _You_ would know what ass tastes like.” Riley accused while Ellie made a face.

“I really don’t wanna know the context,” Nate interrupted, “But me and Elena are heading down to the mall after school. You guys wanna come with?”

Jeff shrugged while Riley’s face lit up, “Hell yeah, dude.” She turned to Ellie. “You ain’t been there yet, huh? Imma show you all the _chill_ spots.” 

“Sure, yeah. Sounds cool.” Ellie said, trying not to sound too excited.

“And if we’re lucky, we can find more plaid for you. ‘Cause you _clearly_ don’t got enough of that.”

“Urgh…” Ellie groaned and exaggeratedly threw her head back. “Not you, too.”

Riley laughed, “I’m kidding, I’m kidding! Besides,” she said, getting up to throw away her trash. “I like that one on you.”  She then flashed a smile, a genuine, soft small.

 _Please don’t be fucking with me,_ Ellie thought as she felt her heart speed up.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so I'm REALLY sorry that I didn't give a single warning, but I'm currently studying abroad Nepal and forgot to update you guys about it. I'm still there, fighting bears and meditating under waterfalls. The usual. I got a chance to whip up this chapter in the meantime so I hope you guys can forgive me and enjoy!

 Jeff was the first to bail. He saw Rita’s Camera Shop and wandered in without saying a word. His friends let him.

Next, Elena dragged Nate off to a department store clearly designed to suit the needs of 40 year old women. Ellie had never seen a greater call for help in one man’s eyes.

“Glad I’m not him.” Riley finally said when the couple was out of view.

“Me too.” Ellie agreed. “So where are these _chill spots_ you promised?”

“Oh, they’re here all right. Follow me.” As they wandered, Riley continued, “This mall’s probably not as big as the ones in Boston—”

“No kidding.” Ellie scoffed.

“ _Anyway_ , our mall makes up for its small size with _heart_.”

“Sounds like your mall is compensating.”

“Shut up. You’ll see, we got all kinds of wacky—”

“Is that Halloween store open already?” Ellie asked, pointing to a store. Above it, a sign read _Spooky Town_. “It just turned October.”

“Girl, that store’s been open since September. It changes for every holiday or season or whatever. And did I mention it’s the fucking _bomb_? Let’s go.” She said, dragging Ellie in. “Ta-da. What do you think?”

Ellie looked around somberly at the Halloween decorations and costumes. She sighed. _First Halloween without Jak and Crash._ They had never missed a single Halloween night together. Even when Crash was sick and had snot dribbling down his nose, they still scored big candy together.

“Hey, what’s wrong?” Riley asked gently, “Thought you’d like spooky shit.”

If Ellie wasn’t in such a somber mood, she would’ve laughed out loud over the juxtaposition of Riley’s gentlest tone and the phrase ‘ _spooky shit’_. Instead, she answered, “No, I totally am. Just not in the Halloween spirit yet, I guess.”

“Wha—? Well, we’ll fix that right up. Here,” she grabbed a wolf mask off the shelf. “Put this on.”

Ellie took the mask. “What, is this a wolf-man or something?” She mumbled before putting it on. Through the eye holes, she could see Riley putting on a creepy clown mask.

“Yeah-hah! Bad. Ass.” Riley laughed. “Okay, now roar.”

“Riley, if you haven’t noticed, there’s people here. In the store. They’ll think we’re crazy.”

“Just do it! It’ll get you in the spirit.”

Ellie sighed in defeat. “Roar.”

“…You call that a roar?”

“ROAR,” Ellie growled in response. She could feel a few heads turn in her direction.

“There we go!” Riley laughed. “Come on, let’s look at the other stuff.”

When Ellie caught up to her, she was already wearing a vampire mask. With a terrible Transylvanian accent, she said, “Blood, blood, blood. I vant blood. Especially from you, plain Jane Bella. You have the sveetest blood a lost soul such as I could desire.”

“That’s the strangest mix of Dracula and Edward Cullen I’ve ever heard of. Why didn’t he speak like that in the movies?”

“I don’t know,” Riley said, removing the mask. “I mean the real question is, why did Bella choose his pasty ass over that fine piece of man, Jacob? And this is coming from someone who doesn’t even like…” Riley sort of smirked and drifted off. “ _Anyway_ , let’s go see some other masks.”

 _What did she mean by that…?_ Ellie wondered. Before she could dwell on it, she nearly jumped from excitement. “Oh my God. Triple Phoenix!” She rushed over to another set of shelves and stuffed herself into the mask.

“ _Really,_ Ellie? Out of all things…”

“Don’t hate on Triple Phoenix, Riley. Just don’t.”

“All right, all right. You and T-Phoenix are tight, I get it.”

 

* * *

 

“Can we go there?” Ellie pointed to Sally’s Book Shop.

“Yeah, sure. They don’t have a huge selection on comics though.”

“Is that all you read?” Ellie side-eyed her as they entered the store.

“What else _is there_ to read, bookworm?”

“Lot’s of great stuff. Like _this,_ for instance.” Ellie said, picking up a book.

“ _No Pun Intended_? What is that, like a book full of nerdy puns?”

“That’s exactly what it is. Okay listen,” Ellie said, flipping to a page. “A boiled egg in the morning is really hard to beat.”

Riley half-groaned, half-laughed. “ _Really?”_

“Okay, okay. Another one: I’m reading a book on anti-gravity, and it’s impossible to put down.”

“Haha, that’s clever. I like that.” Riley said. “You’re...not gonna actually get that, are you?” She asked, raising on eyebrow.

 _I know that look. It’s Riley’s I’m-judging-you-for-being-lame-as-hell look_ , Ellie thought. “No,” She said, trying not to sound too dejected. “It’s kinda stupid.” She put the book down.

Riley looked like she was about to say something, but suddenly changed her mind. “Come on, let’s check out the comics section.

Ellie found that the section _was_ kind of small, but there was gold to be found. She found herself immersed in one of the comics before she realized Riley wasn’t beside her. “Riley!” She called out softly, looking around for her. She finally spotted Riley near the check-out counter, zipping up her backpack. She walked over to her. “There you are. What were you doing?”

“Nothing,” Riley said, almost a little nervously. “Just waiting at the front for you.”

“Well, if you wanted to leave so badly, you could’ve just said so…” Ellie said, feeling a little hurt.

“Come on, it’s not like that. I’ve just seen most of the books here, that’s all.”

“…Okay. I’m ready to go, anyway.”

“You sure?” Riley asked, finally seeming concerned.

“Yep. Come on, you still have chill spots to show me.”

 

* * *

 

“Holy shit.”

“You like?”

“No way, you guys have an _arcade_? Still?”

“Uh huh,” Riley said, smirking triumphantly. “They don’t got those in Boston?”

“Well, they have this fun station thing, but it’s mostly for little kids and…I don’t know, it’s not like in a _mall_ , where people _hang out_. This is…it’s _really_ _cool.”_ She said, looking up in awe at the neon sign reading _Raja’s Arcade_.”

“Come on, you’re gonna love this.” She said, pulling Ellie gently by the wrist. “Ta-da! Your fave mutated pigeons.”

“Oh my God…is this real life?”

“It is. Come on, let’s play. I’ll be the goofy blue one.”

“His name is _Shock Jockey_ , Riley.”

“Yeah, yeah, whatevs. Let’s kick some ass.”

Although it was a co-op, and they were both on the same side, Ellie couldn’t help but revel in getting a better score than Riley. “Ha! Who’s the master?”

“You’re the master. Of demented pigeons, of course.”

“Of _awesome_ demented pigeons.”

“Right. Hey, come on. I got another game to show you. It’s my favorite.”

“What is it?”

“You’ll see! Actually, I don’t know if you even know it…”

“That doesn’t sound hipster at all.”

“Ugh. Don’t compare me to one of those Starbucks sippin’ snobby ass—”

“Is that _The Turning_?! I didn’t know there were little arcade games for that show.”

“Ha! This is no _little_ arcade game, Ellie. Get over here, you’re gonna play.”

“ _Me_? I’ve only played the PS3 version of this game, I didn’t even know this version existed.”

“It’s almost the same, come on. Just try it.” Riley said, popping a coin in. “Who’s your favorite?”

“Uh…” Ellie said, still amazed at the characters that appeared on the arcade game’s screen. She never thought the characters from The Turning would appear so retro. “Deadeye Huntress is my favorite in the comics and the show. Also, I got really used to using her.”  Ellie scrolled over to the character. A red-headed, freckled, archer; everything Ellie liked in a fictional character.

“Ehh, Deadeye’s not bad. Mostly because she’s tight with the _best_ character in the series,” Riley said, placing her hand on top of Ellie’s and scrolling over to the character, Angel Knives. “ _She_ is where the action’s at.”

“I _love_ Angel Knives,” Ellie said, and visibly saw Riley light up. “But she’s so hard to use. I can’t get used to her…”

“What? No, way. She’s not really that bad. Here, go on. Choose her and I’ll show you.”

Ellie did as she was told, and Riley led her through it. Sometimes she would merely tell Ellie what to do, but other times she would lead Ellie’s hand through it. They lost the first time.

“Ugh, Black Fang is just tricky sometimes,” Riley assured her. She popped another coin in, “Come on, let’s try again.”

This time, Ellie managed to beat him and with shaking hands, she inputted the buttons for the final move, in which Angel Knives would rip her opponent’s heart out.

“Great, I knew you could win!” Riley cheered.

“Fuck yeah, I did.” Ellie murmured to herself. She did feel a sense of accomplishment. She always wanted to use Angel Knives, but had a hard time controlling her. Until now.

“You should help me out on the PS3 version. I already maxed out Deadeye Huntress, I should move onto Angel Knives.”

“Oh yeah, sure. I’ll swing by whenever you want.” Riley said casually.

“Yeah, um, maybe.” Ellie said, suddenly remembering she really didn’t want Riley to see her family.

 

* * *

 

“Okay, I’ll admit that the arcade was pretty much the only item in my itinerary of chill spots.” Riley finally said.

“It was pretty chill! I liked it a lot. Definitely gonna come back some time.”

“Yeah, of course. Wanna go see if the other guys are at the food court yet? I think we were supposed to meet there…in like half an hour from now.”

“Can we go there first?” Ellie said, pointing to the carousel.

“Hoo, boy. The horsies, huh? I guess we can, since it’s your first time here…” Riley said, sounding defeated.

They went over, paid, and climbed on two horses beside each other. Ellie looked around, seeing mostly younger children though there was also the occasional teenager. Some of the youngest children were accompanied by a parent behind them. Ellie found herself reminiscing. It almost like a flashback; she could feel herself shrink and her father sitting behind her on the horse, clutching onto her tightly. _Don’t wiggle so much, Ellie. You might fall_ …

“Ellie, you okay?” Riley asked, eyebrows furrowed in concern.

“Huh? Yeah, I’m fine.”

“You don’t look fine. Don’t tell me you’re getting dizzy.”

“No, I’m just…” She faded out as the bell rang and it was time for all the passengers to get off the carousel.

Riley continued to worry over Ellie. “You look like you’ve seen a goddamn ghost. Come on, let’s go sit down.” She said, pulling Ellie along towards the food court and sitting on an empty table. “What’s wrong?”

“Um. I guess it’s like you said, I got dizzy.”

Riley rolled her eyes, “Typical.” She said, though not with any sort of contempt. She pulled out her phone. “Let me text Nate, tell him we’re here. Who knows if Elena will haul ass or not…”

“I know…” Ellie began, “I know you think I’m totally lame and all. But uh, thanks for going on the carousel with me. And uh, everything else, I guess.”

Riley put her phone down, her face sporting a quizzical expression. “I don’t think you’re lame! What gave you that idea?”

Ellie stared at her in her most _are-you-being-serious-right-now_ face. “Yeah. You do. Like with the carousel and Triple Phoenix, and, and that pun book that you thought was stupid.”

“I don’t think you’re lame for liking that stuff. I mean, yeah, okay, you’re dorky but I actually _like_ that about you.”

Ellie let out a small laugh. “It’s okay, Riley. You don’t have to pretend to like the stuff I do.”

“I’m not pretending. Look,” She opened up her backpack and scooped out a book. “I uh, I got this for you.”

Ellie took it from her, recognizing the cover right away. “The pun book? What, Riley?”

“I felt super shitty about making snide comments about this book,” Riley admitted, “The truth is, I thought the puns were hilarious. But, I don’t know, I guess I was trying to act cool or whatever.”

“And then you bought it when I wasn’t looking?”

“It was the least I could do for being an asswipe.”

“Well, I _guess_ I could forgive you…” Ellie said, flipping through the book while Riley checked her phone.

“Ugh. Elena and Nate won’t be here for another 20 minutes.”

“That’s fine,” Ellie said cheerily, “I can read these puns to you in the meantime.”

“As tempting as that sounds,” Riley said, “I have a better idea. Come on, it’s kind of far from here.”

Ellie followed her along, while continuing to look through the pun book. “Okay, I got it. The fish were shy…they were obviously Koi.”

“Aw, that’s just cute.” Riley said, grinning.

“I thought so too! Okay, okay. What’s a pirate’s favorite letter?”

“Pfft, I know this one! It’s arrrrr.”

“Nay! ‘Tis the C” Ellie retorted, without missing a beat.

Riley laughed out loud at that one, “Ya got me!”

“How ‘bout this; the frustrated cannibal threw up his hands!”

Riley laughed again, “Oh, ew!”

“Yeah, some of these are getting morbid…” Ellie said, flipping through the pages.

“Those are the best ones, if you ask me.” Riley said. “Here we are!”

“Whoa! I love photo booths, how’d you know?”

“Ellie. _Everyone_ loves photo booths. Get in,” she said, pushing Ellie inside.

“These drawings are so cute,” Ellie said, looking at the options in the photo booth. “Which one should we pick?”

“Whichever one you want!”

“Uh, then this one, obviously,” Ellie said sarcastically, touching the image showing two bunnies in love. The screen for taking pictures in the ‘love’ theme popped. “Whoa, whoops! I didn’t realize this was touchscreen...”

“Sure you didn’t. I know you’re just tryna woo me…” Riley said.

Ellie felt her face redden. “…Let’s go back,” she said, pressing the back button. “Aha! ‘Cool!’ That’s what we are.” She touched the image of the bunny in shades.

“Okay, it’s counting down! Strike a pose!” Riley said.

After going through various silly poses, the booth printed out two sets of pictures.

“Oh man, these are always so stupid…” Riley said, taking her set and chuckling slightly.

“Stupidly awesome.” Ellie said, grabbing hers. “I think we look great. It’s a keeper.”

“Can’t argue with that,” Riley said, leaning back.

Ellie leaned back with her, “So…”

“So…?” Riley repeated.

And they stared at each other for five seconds. Ellie could’ve sworn she saw Riley lean in slightly. _Oh my God. Is this actually happening?_ She thought as blood pounded in her ears.

Suddenly, the entire booth exploded with Jason Derulo’s voice singing, ‘ _You know what to do with that big fat butt! Wiggle wiggle wiggle…’_ accompanied with the strangest melodic tune Ellie had ever heard. Riley snapped into action, whipping out her phone and pressing it to her ear.

“You piece of monkey shit, I will fucking kill you,” she barked into it. Ellie had never heard Riley so angry.

“What! What’d I do?” Nate’s voice resonated from Riley’s phone.

“You know what you did, how many fuckin’ times do I have to tell you I’m not playin’ that shitty game anymore, changin’ each other’s ringtones an’ shit?!”

Nate’s voice exploded in laughter. “Hoooly shit, I forgot I did that, hahahaha!”

“You’re dead, fuckboy. I’m comin’ for you. Come on, Ellie.” She said, storming out of the booth and back towards the food court.

“Wait, wait!” Nate cried his voice in a fake panic. “Don’t kill me. I’ll make it up to you, come on.”

“Yeah, you _better_ make it up to me.” She sighed, her anger visibly cooling down. “You at the food court?”

“Yep, me and Elena just got here. Jeff’s coming. Don’t murder me though. I’m sorry, okay? I literally forgot I did that…”

“Whatever.” Riley grumbled, hanging up on him.

“…Don’t you think you’re overreacting?” Ellie said. “I mean…it was _pretty_ funny.” She let out a small laugh, the kind that Crash and Jak had dubbed her ‘nervous laughter.’

“Yeah, I guess,” She shrugged. “Eh. I’m over it.”

As they spotted their friends, Nate quickly moved behind Elena, using her as a shield. Riley scoffed. “Quit cowering behind your girlfriend, loser. Get me a milkshake and I’ll spare your life.”

“Okay, okay. I’m on it.” Nate said, getting up. Riley pushed him towards the line.

“You want anything, Ellie?” She asked. “Some fries, maybe?”

“Sure!” Ellie called back. She was glad to see that Riley wasn’t _really_ going to kill Nate, though Riley was _pretty_ angry just five minutes before. _I wonder if it’s because he ruined our moment. If…we were having a moment at all. Why else would she be so mad? …Maybe that’s just how they interact and I’m looking into this way too much_.

“So what’d you guys do today?” Elena asked her, snapping her out of her thoughts.

Ellie smiled and shrugged slightly, “Oh, you know…”

 


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WOW, I'm so sorry for ignoring this story for almost a year. You guys are lucky that my sister is literally the number one fan for this fic, because I finished this chapter in time for her birthday. I can't really make any promises about this story picking up, but I'll try! Enjoy!

Ellie never thought she’d have to be wary of danger in her own home, let alone her own room. But here she was. She’d _barely_ pushed open her door when a pair of hands grabbed her and pulled her inside. One of those hands clapped her mouth shut.

This was it for her. She was waiting for this moment her whole life, when robbers would finally try to raid the house. But Ellie had been thinking about it for years, thinking about what she would do in that situation. All of her built-up rage would pay off. All the years of rough-housing with her two childhood best friends were worth something after all.

As soon as she wrapped her hand around her assailant’s wrist, however, she realized this person was _way_ too tiny to be a robber.

“Sarah, what the fuck?”

“Shhh!”

Ellie dropped her voice to a whisper, “Sarah, what the fuck?”

“Sorry! Sorry. I just—did you see Dad?”

“Yeah, why? And why are we whispering?”

Sarah raised her voice again. “I don’t know. He probably can’t actually hear us.” She sighed, “Did you notice anything weird about Dad?”

“Not really. I guess he trimmed a bit. R.I.P Joel’s beard?”

“Exactly! And didn’t you notice the dress shirt and the cologne?”

Ellie scratched the back of her head. “Um. I guess he smelled nicer than usual, yeah.”

“Don’t you know what this means?”

“He’s giving up his lumberjack aesthetic?” Ellie offered.

“Lumber—no! Ellie, I’m serious. I think he’s going on,” her voice dropped to a whisper again, “a date.”

Ellie’s mouth fell slightly open and she let it hang there for a bit before saying, “You’re freaking out because Joel’s going on a date?”

“Not just _any_ date. It’s his _third_ date. With the same woman.”

“Oh, that’s great!” Ellie said, before she saw the look on Sarah’s face. Her grin shrunk. “Or…not great?”

“No, Ellie. It’s _not_ great. What if they really like each other? What if—”

“Oh, no. What a disaster.” Ellie said sarcastically.

“That would _so_ be a disaster. Can you imagine some lady moving in here and I’d have to call her ‘mom’ and stuff?”

“Sarah, it’s just a date. Nobody’s moving in…”

“But this is his _third_ date. He’s never been this serious with one woman before.”

“…You keep track of your Dad’s love life.” Ellie stated, more than asked.

“Uh, yeah. Me and Dad have been doing fine on our own, we don’t need some stranger coming to live with us.”

“You don’t mind having me here.” Ellie pointed out.

Sarah frowned. “You’re not a stranger! We’ve known each other forever. And besides, that’s different. This is about some lady who might like, break his heart and stuff.”

Ellie sighed. “Look, we don’t even know this woman. Or how serious Joel is about her. How about we cross that bridge when we get to it, huh?”

“I guess.” Sarah shrugged, defeated.

“Girls?” Joel’s voice boomed from down the stairs.

“Yeah?” Sarah called back.

“I’ll be back late tonight. Go ahead and call for pizza, I’m leaving some money on the table.”

“Sure, Dad.”

“Have fun, Joel!” Ellie chimed in.

“Don’t encourage him.” Sarah hissed.

Ellie gave her a grin. “Right…What kind of pizza do you wanna get?”

 

* * *

 

 

Mid-October was always the time the days began to slow down a bit. Classes dragged on  sometimes, though there was always someone to keep Ellie from dying of boredom. Before she nearly fell asleep in Biology class, Sam passed her his classwork, which consisted for 15 fill-in the blank questions. Her eyes instantly fell to number 12, which read, ‘The mitochondria is the powerhouse of yo mama! _’_

Ellie muffled her laughter in her sleeve. “Sam, _no!_ ” She managed to whisper at him.

“It’s starting to look like everyone’s finished,” The teacher said, eyeing Ellie and Sam. He began to collect the classwork.

“Shit.” Sam muttered, taking his sheet back. He tried to erase the answer, but his pencil lacked one. Ellie dug through her pencil pouch to find her large pink eraser and threw it to him. Unfortunately, before he could use it, the teacher came over to his desk.

“I’m sure whatever you have written down so far is fine, Sam.” He said, before taking Sam’s paper. Sam threw Ellie a frightened glance. Ellie responded with a sympathetic, but also just as scared look.

“Holy shit,” Sam muttered after the bell rang and they left the classroom. “I’m screwed.”

“It’ll probably be fine,” Ellie reassured him. “Either way, it’s hilarious. Not to mention ballsy.”

“You think so?” Sam asked. Ellie nodded in response. Sam grinned. “Thanks.” On the way to Spanish class, Sam spoke up again, as if he’d been deciding for a while to say this or not, “Speaking of ballsy…you know that upperclassman friend of yours? Riley, I think?”

“Hm? What about her?”

“I think she hates me.”

“What? What makes you think that?”

“I don’t know, she just kinda, glares at me sometime. Like the other day when she was walking with you to the busses. She was just kind of like this.” Sam said, making an angry face.

Ellie laughed, “Her face always looks like that.”

“Really? I don’t think she looks at you like that!” Sam protested.

“Well, I don’t know. She looks at all our other friends like that, too. I don’t think you should worry about it.”

“Okay…” Same murmured, though he still seemed unsure.

Ellie watched Riley closely during English class. _Okay, she never looks angry all the time, though she has that resting ‘unamused’ face_ , Ellie thought. She watched her a little longer, watching each spark in her eye or upwards twitching of her mouth when Ms. Wersching would say something that pleased her.

Riley finally took notice of Ellie, as she turned towards her and whispered, “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing!” Ellie whispered back. Riley have her a pointed look before turning back. _Okay, so maybe she doesn’t always look angry and I’ve been overestimating based on how much Nate bothers her_ , Ellie concluded. _But why would she glare at Sam like that? Out of all people? It just doesn’t make sense._

“Okay,” Ms. Wersching interrupted Ellie’s thoughts, “So get in groups of three or four and brainstorm some ideas for your essay. You have 15 minutes before the end of class.” Sounds of moving chairs erupted in the classroom. Nate and Riley also proceeded to turn their desks towards Ellie.

“Uh, I just zoned out so hard.” Ellie said, sheepishly. “What’re we doing?”

“Whoa, you’re making _me_ look like a good student,” Nate laughed.

“I _knew_ you were out of it,” Riley added, “What were you thinking about?”

“Your face.” Ellie said, instantly regretting it internally. _What the fuck. Why did I just say that. Why did God bless me with brutal honesty._

“Yeesh, okay! Whatever. You wanna explain the assignment, Nate?”

“Sure. Okay, so we’re doing a collective cohesive essay thing together on any topic for _The Scarlet Letter_. Like, we each write a part of the essay to make one essay.”

“Oh,” Ellie said, immediately devising a plan now that she knew what they had to do. She and Nate bounced ideas off each other, while Riley would occasionally add a suggestion or two.

Noticing that Riley was intently scribbling on a piece of notebook paper, Ellie interrupted her, “Thanks for your contributions, Riley.”

“No problem,” Riley responded.

“Are you…drawing? Is that Ms. Wersching?” Ellie said, taking a closer look at the paper. It was _definetly_ Ms. Wersching, though she looked kind of beaten-up and dirty and _pretty_ awesome, as far as Ellie could tell. “That’s amazing! I didn’t know you could draw. I mean, I’ve seen your doodles but not _this.”_

“Oh, you didn’t know? Riley’s in the Major Arts class. She just doesn’t really talk about it.” Nate informed her.

“I don’t _talk_ about it because most kids in that class are pretentious douchebags.”

“Actually, though,” Nate agreed.

“But why is Ms. Wersching looking…like she’s seen better days?”

Riley laughed, “That’s a good way to put it. I’m painting a series with a post-apocalyptic theme. Just…different people I know set in a world after a giant disaster takes place. You know, robots, nuclear wars, zombies. Shit like that.”

“And you chose Ms. Wersching as your first subject?”

“Don’t you just wanna see that perfect tied up hair let loose a bit?”

“Can’t say I’ve ever thought of it, but sure, I guess.” Ellie said. “She looks pretty fucking cool.”

“Right?” Riley agreed.

The bell rang then, prompting them to gather up their things and head out.

“Holy shit, we never really got anywhere with the essay,” Nate laughed. “Derailed by Riley’s hipster talents.”

“Drawing don’t make you no hipster.” Riley snapped.

“Yeah, what does?”

“Starbucks and Instagram, I don’t fucking know.”

“So…what are we doing for the essay again?” Ellie asked sheepishly.

“Crashing at my place this weekend.”

“Right before it’s due?”

“Right before it’s due.”

 

* * *

 

 

“Nate, did you find that quote yet?”

“Yeah, almost got it,” Nate replied, shuffling through the book’s pages and balancing his pencil between his nose and upper lip.

“How many words you got, Ellie?” Riley asked.

“Let’s see…713.”

“Ha! 820. I’m winning.”

Nate whistled. “I’m impressed. The only way to get Riley to do her shit’s to make it a competition.”

“Yo, at least I’m getting it done. How many words you got, bud?”

“Ugh…400? Almost? Don’t rub it in my face.”

“Weak.” Ellie said, shaking her head.

“Maybe if you’d stop texting Elena for like 10 minutes, you’d get somewhere,” Riley added.

“Wait, wait. Lemme just respond to this message and—” He threw his phone across the room to a couch. “There. All better.”

While Riley mumbled something about that couch being notorious for eating up stuff, Ellie checked her own phone. There was a message from Sarah.

**S: Are you coming home? i think dad is worried lol**

**E: Tell him I’m just working on and english project w/ friends.**

**S: No I did, he wants to know when ur coming home**

**S: or IF ur coming home**

**S: you should have a sleepover w/ riley LOL**

**E: haha uhh yeah I don’t know about that**

**S: well its getting late anddddd it’s the weekend**

**E: Um well I guess if only she asks**

**S: Okie, I told dad you might have plans to sleep over there**

**S: he says let him know if you need to be picked up or whatever**

**E: Gotcha**

“Wow, Ellie gets to text and I don’t? What is this feminist bullshit.”

“It’s my sister, Nate.”

“Yeah, sure. Exercise your female privilege. Hashtag menimism.”

“I can’t even tell if you’re being ironic or what when you pull that shit, Drake.” Riley said, eyes still on her laptop screen.

“Not all men.” Nate replied.

The room was quiet for a few minutes, with nothing but the sounds of three teenagers typing away at their laptops.

“Aaand, I’m done,” Riley said smugly. “Let’s see, 1015 words.”

“I’m still at a little over 800,” Ellie admitted. She then grinned. “Quality over quantity, I always say”

“That’s why I’m only at 500 words!” Nate added.

“Y’all are eating sour grapes over here. Time for me to kick back! Get on my level.”

“Actually, I think I’m heading home. Don’t wanna leave my mom all alone,” Nate said. Ellie looked over to Riley, expecting her to crack a mama’s boy joke.

Instead, she nodded. “Sure, yeah. Let’s keep working on it on google docs. I’ll edit my portion tomorrow too.”

“I kinda wanted to finish today,” Ellie said, frowning at her screen.

“Nate can just go ahead, and you can stay here ‘till you finish if you want,” Riley said. “Unless you need to go home too?”

“Not really. I mean, it’s getting dark. But Joe—my dad—can get me in a few hours if I ask.”

“Or you could stay!” Riley said quickly, and then amended, “Like uh, overnight. I mean, my parents aren’t home. Not! That it matters! I mean, it’d be nice if you’d stay, I hate to be alone in this house.”

Ellie had to admit, Riley was pretty cute when she was flustered—more cute than usual, anyhow. Out of the corner of her, though, she could see Nate making at least 5 micro-gestures per second to Riley. Some kind of Bro-code these two had going on. She groaned inwardly.

“Yo, Riley’s gotta the sweetest movie collection. I’d stay if I were you, but I gotta run.”

“Yeah, uh, I have like, pajamas and toothbrushes and stuff. If you need.” Riley lamely added.

Ellie raised a brow. “You guys can drop the infomercial act, I’m already down! Just let me tell my sister.”

“Well, ladies, my work here is done,” Nate said, “See you guys Monday?”

“Yeah, yeah, smell ya later Drake.” Riley replied, walking him out. Ellie took the chance to text Sarah.

**E: Um. So I guess I’m staying the night!**

**S: Yes! I knew it ;)**

**E: Ew please don’t use that emoticon, you’re like 12**

**S: I’m literally 12.**

**S: What’s wrong with being 12?**

**E: Nothing, I gotta go now**

**S: Ok!! Have fun :)**

Ellie resumed typing the essay in between texts while she heard Riley plop back down on the couch next to her.

“Lovin’ that multi-tasking,” Riley noted. She started mindlessly scrolling through her phone.

“Just one of my _many_ talents,” Ellie responded. “Um. So why aren’t your parents home tonight?”

“Oh, they already left this morning to visit my mom’s parents in Georgia. They wanted me to come along but I had _this_ to do and it’s not like I wanted to hear my grandma be all like, ‘Riley, you’re _such_ a beautiful young girl. Why not wear that dress I bought for your birthday?’ Gee, I don’t know, Nanna, maybe because I look like an asshole in it?”

“Riley,” Ellie began without looking up, “You like an asshole no matter what you wear.”

“Aw, you’re too sweet. If only you used all the energy you reserve for comebacks to finish that goddamn essay so we could watch a spooky ass movie or something.”

“If only you’d shut your pie-hole, maybe I’d finish by now!”

“…pie-hole?”

Ellie must given Riley the right annoyed look to back her off. It didn’t last long, however, because Riley came back with, “Okay, so speaking of pie-holes, what do you wanna eat?”

“That was the strangest segue I’ve ever heard.” Ellie looked up, “You’re the host, Riley, you can choose.”

“You’re the guest! Your opinion’s more important! And if you leave it to me, I’ll choose greasy Chinese food every night.”

“Sounds good to me. Lo-mein, please. ”

“Ordering right…..now.” Riley said, clicking on something and entering numbers from what Ellie could only guess was her parents’ credit card. “Half an hour. Yeesh.”

Ellie mumbled in response, still typing away. Riley sat quietly beside her, scrolling through web sites. It was around the same time Ellie finished that the doorbell rang and Riley rocketed across the room to get the door.

Riley brought the food to the living room, “ Well, food’s here! How’s the essay looking?”

“It’s looking _done_. Clocked in at 1250 words.”

“Wow, overachiever. What happened to quality over quantity.”

“I put _both_ in my essays.”

“Nerd. Let me bring the plates here. You can pick out a movie—in that shelf.” Riley gestured toward the cabinet below the TV.

Ellie opened up the cabinet, revealing an impressive collection of movies and games. Below the collection sat a range of video game consoles. She began to look through the movies, which are somewhat arranged by genre. A section is particular caught her eye—a collection of anime and animated movies were all arranged together. She went through them with amusement before Riley came up behind her.

“Oh man, don’t look through that shit. We’re looking for _creepy_ movies. And _here’s_ the horror section.”

“I love Halloween and all, but scary movies suck. There’s like, two genres: teenagers making out in the woods get wrecked by ghosts and suburban dads bring their children to a haunted house where the entire family gets wrecked. They’re boring and predictable and—”

Riley laughed, “Oh man that’s too bad. Actually the one I was thinking of is number two.” She slipped out a movie, “You ever seen Insidious?”

“No, but if it’s about a white suburban dad—”

“It _is_ but give it a chance! It’s pretty scary. And actually has a plot.”

“Ugh, fine.”

Ellie popped in the DVD while Riley poured the Chinese food onto the plates. While the opening music played, she plopped down next to Riley, who handed her a plate. The production value of this movie was better than the others, Ellie could give it that. “I can’t believe it—suburban dad is actually moving his family out of the house….it’s—it’s not gonna help, is it?”

Riley merely grinned and took a bite of food. “Let’s keep watching.”

Only a few of the scenes made Ellie jump, though she flinched plenty of times. This movie had less jump scares and more…psychological scares. At one point, she shivered and Riley took this as a sign that she should turn on the heat and scoot closer to Ellie. At one point, Ellie even gripped Riley’s arm. She heard Riley give off a small snicker, so she let go.

As the credits rolled, Ellie stared blankly at the screen while Riley stared at her.

“…You expect me to sleep tonight?” Ellie slowly asked. “Because it’s not gonna happen.”

“Ha! ‘Scary movies suck, they’re not even scary.’ Sound like someone?”

“It’s not even that scary, I just don’t think I’ll be able to sleep tonight. Or ever.”

Riley rolled her eyes, “There’s no such thing as an _astral_ projection okay. Or demons. I learned this after finally falling asleep after watching this movie the first time….a few days after.”

“So you couldn’t sleep either!”

“Yeah, when I was younger! Come on, it’s nearly midnight. Let’s find you some pajamas at least.”

Riley’s room was exactly how Ellie expected it to be—posters of zombies and UFO’s, pictures of Angela Davis and Assata Shakur, and her own entertainment system. Though she noted it was neater than she imagined. She wondered if Riley cleaned up her room a bit for her—it was a really nice thought. There was a picture of her and Nate on her dresser from when they were much younger. Riley was missing her front tooth and Nate had a band-aid on his forehead, grinning away. Next to it, there was a photo of Riley and her parents, Ellie assumed. They were posed like they were from the Victorian era. It almost made her laugh to see Riley so stone-faced.

Riley, meanwhile, was scrambling through her closet. “So my mom bought me these and I never wore them because—well, look at them. But you might fit right in them.”

She saw that Riley was holding a pair of pajamas that had little cartoon bunnies on them. The bunny seemed to have a real attitude, wearing sunglasses and pouting like it was no one’s business.

“They’re…perfect.” Ellie whispered. “How come you don’t like them?”

“No, really, the bunnies are cute. Just not my thing. I knew you’d like them, though.”

“Aw, you shouldn’t have.” Ellie said.

Riley took out her own pajamas. “This is the only time I’ll wear as much plaid as you,” she said, holding up a pair of blue and white plaid night shirt and pants. “I’ll change in the bathroom, you can change here.” She left through a room attached to her bedroom.

 _Must be nice having your own bathroom_ , Ellie thought she changed into the pajamas. _I wonder what Riley’s parents are like._

“Wow! Yep, they’re perfect.” Riley said as she came out. She opened up her closet again, revealing a long mirror behind one of the doors. “See?”

“Your mom has great taste.”

“She does. Hang on, let me get this tag off.” Riley said, reaching behind Ellie’s collar. Her touch made her shiver slightly. She tossed the tag in the garbage. “Come on,” she said, leading Ellie to the room next door. “Uh, this is the guest room. Only Nate stays here sometimes but other than that…”

Ellie must’ve looked frightened, because Riley quickly said, “Oh my God, Ellie, you’re not still thinking about that stupid movie?”

“Dalton got lost in the astral plane after falling asleep and _then_ his body got possessed by demons. How am I supposed to fall asleep in here?”

“Ellie, listen to me,” Riley said, placing her hands on Ellie’s shoulders. “You’re going to fall asleep, and you’re going to wake up. You’re _not_ going to the astral plane. Because it’s not real. Got it?”

“Dalton’s family didn’t think it was real, either.”

Riley slapped a hand to her own forehead. She seemed to hesitate over her next few words, “Okay. Um. Let’s face it; my bed’s huge. We can sleep together and if you start to astral project I’ll grab your stale ass soul and shove it back to your body. How bout it?”

Ellie would’ve been just as embarrassed as Riley if she wasn’t so relieved that she wouldn’t have to sleep alone. “That actually…sounds good?” 

Riley looked slightly shocked, as if she just made some sort of big commitment. “Yeah, okay. I ain’t tired yet though, you wanna play some cards first?”

Riley put on some light music on her entertainment system and took out a deck of cards. They played Go Fish and Spit and later, Riley taught Ellie the wonders of Poker. Riley took Ellie’s yawning as a sign that they should stop playing and prepare for bed. Ellie went to brush her teeth while Riley took out an extra fleece blanket in case she stole the blanket at night.

Ellie didn’t really find the whole arrangement that awkward until she saw Riley was already in bed and she shyly slipped in next to her. _It’s not that weird. Riley’s like, my best friend. It’s totally normal._ She thought to herself. But it really wasn’t that simple. Like that time in the photo booth, it was not that simple at all.

“Good night,” Riley said, grinning before turning off her lamp.

“Night…” Ellie said back, instantly feeling much more tired now that the light was off.

“Sweet dreams.” Riley said, half genuinely, half playfully.

“You too…” Ellie mumbled, drifting off to sleep.

 

 

 

 

 


End file.
